339 
38 

>y 1 



E 339 -f \ 

.L68 

Copy 1 



CIRCULAR. 



incrican lurtrait 6alUrg, 



CONTAINING 



PORTRAITS AND MEMOIRS 



OF 



MEN NOW LIVING 



A NEW and elegant edition of this great work, in four volumes, com- 
prising about 2,000 pages of letter press, and two hundred and thirty-eight 
fine steel portraits^ some of which are among the finest specimens of 
artistic skill, has just been published, at an expense of nearly twenty-four 
thousand dollars. The portraits form the most complete and valuable 
collection in existence in this country. 

The volumes present to the world truthful likenesses and biogra- 
phies of men now living, including clergymen, lawyers, doctors, soldiers, 
statesmen, financiers, merchants, manufacturers, planters, and those 
of other respectable vocations. In the following table of contents will 
be found the names of President Pierce, with every member of his 
cabinet, Justices of the Supreme Court of the U. S., Governors, Army 
Officers, and many others deservedly standing among the first in the 
United States. 

While transmitting to posterity the memory of persons of the j^resent 
day, these memoirs will instill in the minds of our children the impo]'tant 
lesson, that honor and station are the sure reward of continued exertion 
— and that, compared to a good education, with habits of honest industry 
and economy, the greatest fortune would be but a poor inheritance. If 
the work contains the names of many who have enjoyed every advantage 
which affluence and early education could bestow, it also traces the his- 
tory of those who, by their own unaided efforts, have risen from obscurity 
to the highest and most responsible trusts in the land. 

The value of biography, as a study for the young, has always been 
highly appreciated ; but it has been too much the fashion to direct our 
youth to the lives of Plutarch rather than to the achievements of men in 
our own time. Not oijly is much of the moral force, which it is the pe- 
culiar advantage of biography to impart, lost by the purely ideal aspect 
in which the youthful imagination contemplates a Grecian sage or a Ro- 
man hero, but the spheres of distinction in which they were illustrious 
were so different from those to Avhich men are now attracted, that very 
little either of wholesome incentive or needed encouragement can be de- 



11 AMERICAN PORTRAIT GALLERY CIRCULAR. 

rived from them. Great antiquity, far-off distance of time, invests the 
character of even a common mind with a jjlory beautiful as a picture, 
but noways encouraging as an example. We look at them to admire, 
but not to imitate. In full harmony, therefore, not only with the spirit 
of the age, but no less with the wants of our nature, we are gratified to 
see a growing tendency toward the publication and study of a cotempo- 
raneous biography, not in a few departments of Hfe only, but in every 
walk in which the human mind may usefully and honorably exert itself. 
Every pursuit needs the encouragement of successful examples. 

Instruction is often most effectually given by example. Not a few 
men, it is believed, pass their lives in obscurity and want, mainly because 
from the unfavorable circumstances in which their lives commence, they 
pass the period of youth under a vague but general impression that emi- 
nence, in any important respect, is unattainable by them; and hence 
they form no fixed purpose to attain it. A better means of dissipating 
this delusion, rousing the minds of young men and lads to high and 
noble aims, and stimulating them to the achievements of such aims, 
can hardly be adopted than holding before them the example and 
history of others who have pushed their way upward into affluence, 
honor and usefulness, from amid circumstances not less discouraging 
than their own. 

Success, though sometimes apparently flowing from the caprices of 
fortune, is, after all, the surest test of real merit; and it is encouraging 
to every young man who, repining not at the accidents of his birth, looks 
up with a trustful spirit to higher spheres of usetulness and fame, to 
know that others have gone before him with prospects no fairer than his 
own, and have triumphed. The success of others gives us confidence in 
ourselves. What they have done, we may do ; and thus the example of 
those who have successfully trod any of the diversified paths of life be- 
comes the mental heritage of every aspiring spirit, more valuable than 
houses or lands. It is the capital which plumes the pinions of hope — 
the stock in trade which gives confidence to the mind, when failure 
might else point to despair. 

This work exhibits, as all biography Avill, that those who are most 
successful in obtaining honors, public respect and wealth, have not pur- 
sued these as the end of their labors, but have obtained them as incidents 
to active virtues. When we make reputation, honor or riches the motives 
instead of the rewards of our conduct, we reverse the order which Provi- 
dence has established, and fail of obtaining what we are perversely seek- 
ing. When Solomon was asked what he most desired, he said, "Give 
thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people. And God said 
unto him. Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for 
thyself long life, nor riches, nor the life of thine enemies, lo ! I have given 
thee a wise and an understanding heart ; so that there was none like thee 
before, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. And I have also 
given thee what thou hast not asked, both riches and honor." He asked 
to perform well his duties, and the performance brought with it riches 
and honor as incidents of duty. > 

If a lawyer discharges well and faithfully his legal duties, riches and 
honor will follow as natural incidents; but should he make riches the 
object of his efforts, he will not necessarily perform faithfully his legal 



(S 



i 



v-O 



CIRCULAR. 



^mtrican portrait ^allerj), 

CONTAINING 

PORTRAITS AND MEMOIRS 

OF 

MEN NOW LIVING. 



A NEW and elegant edition of this great work, in four volumes, com- 
prising about 2,000 pages of letter press, and tivo hundred and thirty-eight 
fine steel portraits^ some of which are among the finest specimens of 
artistic skill, has just been published, at an expense of nearly twenty-four 
thousand dollars. The portraits form the most complete and valuable 
collection in existence in this country. 

The volumes present to the world truthful likenesses and biogra- 
phies of men now living, including clergymen, lawyers, doctors, soldiers, 
statesmen, financiers, merchants, manufacturers, planters, and those 
of other respectable vocations. In the following table of contents will 
be found the names of President Pierce, Avith every member of his 
cabinet. Justices of the Supreme Court of the U. S., Governors, Army 
Officers, and many others deservedly standing among the first in the 
United States. 

While transmitting to posterity the memory of persons of the present 
day, these memoirs will instill in the mine's of our children tlic important 
lesson, that honor and station are the sure reward of continued exertion 
— and that, compared to a good education, with habits of honest industry 
and economy, the greatest fortune would be but a poor inheritance. If 
the work contains the names of many who have enjoyed every advantage 
which affluence and early education could bestow, it also traces the his- 
tory of those who, by their own unaided efforts, have risen from obscurity 
to the highest and most responsible trusts in the land. 

The value of biography, as a study for the young, has always been 
highly appreciated ; but it has been too much the fashion to direct our 
youth to the lives of Plutarch rather than to the achievements of men in 
our own time. Not only is much of the moral force, which it is the pe- 
culiar advantage of biography to impart, lost by the purely ideal aspect 
in which the youthful imagination contemplates a Grecian sage or a Ro- 
man hero, but the spheres of distinction in which they were illustrious 
were so different from those to which men are now attracted, that very 
little either of wholesome incentive or needed encouragement can be de- 




ii AMERICAN PORTRAIT GALLERY CIRCULAR. 

rived from them. Great antiquity, far-off distance of time, invests the 
character of even a common mind with a glory beautiful as a picture, 
but noways encouraging as an example. We look at them to admire, 
but not to imitate. In full harmony, therefore, not only with the spirit 
of the age, but no less with the wants of our nature, we are gratified to 
see a growing tendency toward the publication and study of a cotempo- 
raneous biography, not in a few departments of life only, but in every 
walk in which the human mind may usefully and honorably exert itself. 
Every pursuit needs the encouragement of successful examples. 

Instruction is often most effectually given by example. Not a few 
men, it is believed, pass their lives in obscurity and want, mainly because 
from the unfavorable circumstances in which their lives commence, they 
pass the period of youth under a vague but general impression that emi- 
nence, in any important respect, is unattainable by them; and hence 
they form^ no fixed 2)urpose to attain it. A better means of dissipating 
this delusion, rousing the minds of young men and lads to high and 
noble aims, and stimulating them to the achievements of such aims, 
can hardly be adopted than holding before them the example and 
history of others who have pushed their way upward into affluence, 
honor and usefulness, from amid circumstances not less discouraging 
than their own. 

Success, though sometimes apparently flowing from the caprices of 
fortune, is, after all, the surest test of real merit ; and it is encouraging 
to every young man who, repining not at the accidents of his birth, looks 
up with a trustful spirit to higher spheres of usefulness and fame, to 
know that others have gone before him with prospects no fairer than his 
own, and have triumphed. The success of others gives us confidence in 
ourselves. What they have done, we may do ; and thus the example of 
those who have successfully trod any of the diversified paths of life be- 
comes the mental heritage of every aspiring spirit, more valuable than 
houses or lands. It is the capital which plumes the pinions of hope — 
the stock in trade which gives confidence to the mind, when failure 
might else point to despair. 

This work exhibits, as all biography will, that those who are most 
successful in obtaining honors, public respect and wealth, have not pur- 
sued these as the end of their labors, but have obtained them as incidents 
to active virtues. Whfen we make reputation, honor or riches the motives 
instead of the rewards of our conduct, we reverse the order which Provi- 
dence has established, and fail of obtaining what we are perversely seek- 
ing. When Solomon was asked what he most desired, he said, " Give 
thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people. And God said 
unto him. Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for 
thyself long life, nor riches, nor the life of thine enemies, lo ! I have' given 
thee a wise and an understanding heart ; so that there was none like thee 
before, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. And I have also 
given thee what thou hast not asked, both riches and honor." He asked 
to perform well his duties, and the performance brought with it riches 
and honor as incidents of duty. 

If a lawyer discharges well and faithfully his legal duties, riches and 
honor will follow as natural incidents ; but should he make riches the 
object of his eftbrts, he will not necessarily perform faithfully his legal 



AMERICAN PORTRAIT GALLERY CIRCULAR. lU 

duties, but by subordinating them to avarice, he will lose his business and 
character without in the end obtaining the riches thus viciously pursued. 

A politician who interests himself usefully in public matters will obtain 
official station as an incident of his usefulness ; but should he make office 
the motive of his political conduct, he will be as often uselessly busy as 
actively useful, and give offence by officiousness rather than gain favor by 
usefulness. So, an officer who discharges faithfully his public duties will 
obtain popularity as an incident of his faithfulness ; but should he pur- 
sue popularity as the object of his actions, he will not, necessarily, dis- 
charge faithfully bis duties, but will subordinate them to his popularity, 
and so waver in his conduct and fluctuate in his sentiments as to f;ul in 
reaching the desired end. A physician who skillfully performs his prac- 
tice will obtain celebrity and patronage as incidents of his skill ; but 
should he pursue celebrity and patronage as motives, he will magnify 
slight ailments, that he may obtain the merit of achieving astonishing 
recoveries. He will publish miraculous cures which never occurred, 
and he will be contemned rather than obtain patronage and celebrity. 

A like principle pervades, necessarily, all the business occupations of 
life. The organization of man, of society, and of the universe, are alike 
favorable to honesty and virtuous conduct. Duties fjiithfully discharged 
lead to wealth and honor ; duties selfishly performed to poverty and dis- 
grace. There are many memoirs in this work illustrative of these truths. 

It is needless to remark further on the extended information and de- 
light we derive from the multiplication of portraits by engraving, or on 
the more important advantages resulting from the study of biography. 
Separately considered, the one afibrds an amusement not less innocent 
than elegant, inculcates the rudiments, or aids the progress of taste, and 
rescues from the hand of time the perishable monuments raised by the 
pencil or the daguerrean art. The other — while it is, perhaps, the more 
agreeable branch of historical literature — is certainly the more useful in 
its moral effects ; stating the known circumstances, and endeavoring to 
unfold the secret motives of human conduct ; selecting all that is worthy 
of being recorded, it at once informs and invigorates the mind, warms 
and mends the heart. It is, however, from the combination of portrait 
and biography that we reap the utmost degree of utility and pleasure 
which can be derived from them. As, in contemplating the portrait of 
a person, we long to be instructed in his history, so, in considering his 
actions, we are anxious to behold his countenance. So earnest is this 
desire, that the imagination is ready to coin a set of features or to con- 
ceive a character to supply the painful absence of one or the other. It 
is impossible to conceive a work which ought to be more interesting than 
one which will exhibit before our progeny their fathers as they lived, 
accompanied with such memoirs of their lives and characters as shall 
furnish a comparison of persons and countenances with sentiments and 
actions. 



J^^ See following pages for Table of Contents of the four volumes. 
See the last page for the price of the work. 



IV AMERIOAN PORTRAIT GALLERY CIRCULAR, 



A FEW NOTICES OF THE PRESS. 

In a recent notice the New- York Commercial Advertiser says : 
The portraits are all engraved from daguerreotypes, in the finest style 
of the art, and are undoubtedly correct. We can vouch for the remark- 
able fidelity of the likenesses of those persons with whose faces we are 
familiar. This truly national work is creditable to the ability and enter- 
prise of Mr. Livingston, and should adorn every public and private 
library in the country. To expatiate on the value of such a work would 
be superfluous, as it must commend itself to imiversal favor. 

The Boston Daily Bee says : 

The volumes contain exquisitely finished steel plate engravings, which 
alone are Avorth far more than the cost of the work. It would be a tame 
compliment to remark that these portraits and memoirs form one of the 
most interesting works of the age. They are more — they are the most 
valuable. Here is a vast amount of information, which must have cost 
immense toil, and which none but an intellectual giant could or would 
have collected. One remarkable and most encouraging feet shines from 
every page of these volumes, viz. : that nearly all our men of eminence 
have risen from the ranks of the masses ; risen by the most indomitable 
energy, industry and integrity. 

We cordially recommend Mr. Livingston's great American work. It 
should be on every table and in every library, that the young of our land 
may draw inspiration and courage from the noble men it portrays. 

The Neio-York National Democrat says : 

So far as we know, this is the first book of any sort that purposes to 
hand down to after times, in an authentic form, the portraits and char- 
acters of men distinguished in the walks of private as well as of public 
life. The author's conception of the great work of living biographies 
was fortunate in the extreme. No other plan of the kind has before 
been so fully undertaken and so well carried out. We cannot but regard 
this large and splendid production as one of the most remarkable and 
valuable this country has yet seen. 

The New- York Tribune says : 

It exhibits a remarkable catalogue of self-made men, and illustrates the 
steps by which they arose from obscurity to wealth and consideration. 
It is pleasing to remark that the individuals of whom sketches are here 
given are indebted for their success in life to genuine, sturdy, straightfor- 
ward qualities ; to energy, diligence and enterprise, rather than to the 
arts by which so many manage to swindle themselves into a good repu- 
tation. 

The Washington Daily Union says : 

By a large expenditure of means the author has attained to that point 
which he had in view when he commenced his labors upon it — that is, 
to make it a work which, while it might elicit admiration and praise as 
to its mechanical arrangement, should at the same time be a true histo- 
rical record of the lives and services of those eminent citizens whose por- 
traits adorn its columns. 



CONTENTS OF VOLUMES I, II, III. AND IV. 



NAMES OF SUBJECTS CLASSIFIED ALPHABETICALLY. 



PAGE 



ALCORN, JAMES L., of Coahoma Co., Mississippi ; Lawyer and 

A^taiesmaw ; Vol. IV., 106 

ALLEN, STEPHEN M., of Boston, Massachusetts; Merchant 

and Banker; Vol. TIL, , 57 

, ANDERSON, SAMUEL, of Murfreesboro', Tennessee ; Lawyer; 

Judo-e of the Circuit Court for the Fifth Circuit ; Vol. II., 419 

ANSPACH, JOHN, Junior, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; 

if ercAan^- Vol. III., 309 

AMONETT, JAMES J., of Richmond, Louisiana; Statesman 

and Jurist ; Vol. IV., . . . . . • 32 

AYER, RICHARD IL, of Manchester, New Hampshire ; Manu- 
facturer; [deceased;] late President of the Amoskeag 
Bank; Vol. I., ........ 113 

BADGER, LUTHER, of Bingham ton. New York ; Lawyer; for- 
merly a Member of Congress ; Vol. IL, .... 595 

BARBEE, WILLIAM, of Troy, Ohio ; Statesman and Jurist ; 

Vol. IV., 125 

BARNARD, WILLIAM T., of Issaquena County, Mississippi ; 

Planter and Statesman ; Vol. IV., .... 149 

3ARRINGER, DANIEL M., of Cabarras County, North Caro- 
lina ; Lawyer ; formerly Member of the United States 
Congress, and Minister to the Court of Spain; Vol. I., . 51 

BASH, HENRY M., of Baltimore, Maryland ; Merchant; Vol. TIL, 43 1 

BATTLE, WILLIAM H., of Chapel Hill, North Carolina ; Xcm- 

yer; Judge of the Superior Court ; Vol. IL, . . . '771 

BAXTER, ELI H., of Sparta, Georgia ; Lawyer and Jurist ; for- 
merly Judge of the Supreme Court ; Vol. III., . . 285 

BELL, MONTGOMERY, of Williamson County, Tennessee; 

Iron Manufacturer ; Yol.YV.^ 275 



VI CONTENTS. 



PA6B 



BIDDLE, HORACE P., of Logansport, Indiana; Lawyer and 

Author; President Judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit ; 

Vol. I., 257 

BIERCE, LUCIUS V., of Akron, Ohio ; Lawyer, Statesman and 

Soldier; Vol. III., 247 

BOTTUM, NATHAN H., of Shaftesbury, Vermont ; Jurist and 

Statesman ;Yo\.lY., 286 

BOWLES, JOSHUA B., of Louisville, Kentucky ; Financier ; 

President of the Bank of Louisville ; Vol. 11. . . 645 

BOWMAN, JAMES L., of Brownsville, Pennsylvania; Mer- 
chant; President of the Monongahela Bank; Vol. I., . 357 
BOUTELLE, TIMOTHY, of Waterville, Maine ; Lawijer and 

Statesman ; Yo\.Ill., . . . . . . . 41 

BRIERLY, BENJAMIN, of San Francisco, California; Clergy- 
man ; Vol. IV., 427 

BRIGHAM, JOSIAH, of Quincy, Massachusetts ; Merchant ; 

President of the Quincy Stone Bank ; Vol. I., . . 31 
BRISBANE, A. H., of Charleston, South Carolina ; Soldier and 

Planter ;Yo\. III., 317 

BROOKS, CHARLES, of Medford, Massachusetts ; Author and 

Clergyman ; Vol. III., .257 

BROOKS, NATHAN C, of Baltimore, Maryland ; Author and 

Teacher ;Yo\. III., 161 

BROWN, AARON V., of Nashville, Tennessee ; Lawyer ; late 

Governor of Tennessee, and Member of Congress ; Vol. I., 89 
BROWN, EDWIN R., of Gallatin, Mississippi ; Planter and 

Statesman ;Yo\.Y^,, 320 

BROWN, SAMUEL A., of Jamestown, New York ; Lawyer ; 

formerly Member of the New York Assembly; Vol. I. . 53 
BROWN, WILLIAM G., of Kingwood, Virginia ; Lawyer and 

Statesman ; Vol. III., ....... 333 

BULLOCK, WILLIAM F., of Louisville, Kentucky ; Lawyer ; 

Judge of the Circuit Court for the Sixth Circuit; Vol. I., 283 
BURNET, JACOB, of Cincinnati, Ohio ; Lawyer ; late United 

States Senator, and Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio ; 

Vol I., 265 

CALHOUN, JAMES M., of Atlanta, Georgia ; Lawyer, States- 
man and Soldier; Vol. IV., 52 

CAMPBELL, DAVID, of Newark, New Jersey ; Merchant ; 

Vol. IV., 72 

CAMPBELL, JAMES, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Lawyer 

and Statesman; Postmaster-General ; Vol. III., . . 239 
CAMPBELL, JOHN C, of Wheeling, Virginia ; Physician ; 

President of the Northwestern Bank of Virginia; Vol. L, 161 
CATCHINGS, THOMAS J., of Hinds County, Mississippi ; PAy- 

sician undi Statesman ; \o\. TV., ....'. 281 



» 



CONTENTS. Vll 

PAQB 

CATRON, JOHN, of Nashville, Tennessee ; Lawyer ; Justice of 

the Supreme Court of the United States ; Vol. IL, . . 805 

CHAMBERLAIN, EBENEZER M., of Goshen, Indiana ; Laxo- 

yer and Statesman ; Member of Thirty-third Congress ; 

Vol. IV., 150 

CHAPMAN, JOHN BUTLER, of Oberlin, Ohio ; Statesman ; 

Vol. IV., 436 

CHAPMAN, JOHN GRANT, of Glen Albin, Maryland ; Lawyer 

and Planter ; Vol. IV., 252 

CHRISTY, WILLIAM, of New Orleans, Louisiana ; Lawyer and 

Soldier ; Vol. HI., 375 

CHURCH, LEONARD, of Lee, Massachusetts ; Paper Manu- 
facturer ; President of the Lee Bank ; Vol. I., . . 35 

CLARK, LINCOLN, of Du Buque, Iowa ; Lawyer and States- 
man ; Vol. IV., 155 

CLARKE, WILLIAM B., of Hagerstown, Maryland ; Laxoyer ; 
Member of the House of Delegates in 1844, and Senate 
in 1846 ; Vol. 1 299 

CLAY, JOHN RANDOLPH, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ; 
Diplomatist; Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States 
to Peru, South America ; Vol. I., .... 133 

CLEVELAND, ELIJAH, of Irasburg, Vermont ; Jurist and 

Statesman ; Yq\.1Y.^ ....... 145 

COALE, JAMES M., of Frederick, Maryland ; Laioyer ; 

Vol. III., 299 

COLT, JAMES B., of St. Louis, Missouri; Laioyer; late Judge of 

the Criminal Court of St. Louis ; Vol. I., . . .149 

CONVERSE, E. A., of Tolland, Connecticut; Banker and Mer- 
chant ; Vol. III., . . . . . . . . 91 

COOPER, DAVID, of St, Paul, Minesota; Lawyer and Jurist; 
formerly Judge of the Supreme Court of Minesota • 
Vol. IV., 15 

COOPWOOD, THOMAS, of Aberdeen, Mississij^pi ; Lawyer 

and Planter; Vol. IL, . . . . . , .631 
COTHREN, WILLIAM, of Woodbury, Connecticut; Lawyer 

and Author ; Vol. IV., ...... 391 

COXE, RICHARD S., of Washington, District of Columbia ; 

Lawyer ; Vol. I., ••..... 247 

CRAWFORD, JOEL, of Early County, Georgia; Lawyer, 

Statesman and Planter ; Vol. 111., . . . . 177 
CREY, FREDERICK, of Baltimore, Maryland ; Vol. IIL . . 433 

CROSKEY, JOSEPH R. K., of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ; U., 

S. Consul at Southampton, England ; Merchant ; Vol. IV., 297 

CULLOM, E. NORTH, of Opelousas, Louisiana ; Lawyer ; Mem- 
ber of the House of Representatives of Louisiana ; Vol. IV. 360 



\ 



Vni CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

CULVER, REUBEN, of Logan, Ohio ; Lawyer; President of the 

Logan Branch Bank ; Vol. L, . . . . . 95 

GUSHING, CALEB, of Newburyport, Massachusetts ; Lawyer^ 
Soldier and Statesman ; Attorney-General for the 
United States ; Vol. IIL, 243 

CUSHMAN, HENRY W., of Bernardston, Massachusetts; 

Statesman ; formerly Lieutenant Governor ; Vol. HL, . 29 

CUTLER, PLINY, of Boston, Massachusetts ; Merchant ; Presi- 
dent of the Atlantic Bank ; Vol. I., . . . . 327 

DARBY, JOHN F., of St. Louis, Missouri ; Lawyer ; late Mem- 
ber of the Thirty-second Congress ; Vol. I., . . . 333 

DAVIS, CHARLES D., of Monroe, Georgia ; Lawyer and States- 
man ; Vol. IV., ........ 134 

DAVIS, D. A., of Salisbury, North Carolina ; Banker; Cashier of 

the Branch of the Bank of Cape Fear ; Vol. IV., . . 130 

DAVIS, JEFFERSON, of Mississippi ; Soldier, Planter and 

Statesman; Secretary of War ; Vol. IIL, . . . 235 

DAY, JOSEPH, of Jones County, Georgia ; Jurist and Planter ; 

Vol. IV., 238 

DEAN, GILBERT, of Poughkeepsie, New York ; Lawyer; late 
Member of Congress ; now Judge of New York Supreme 
Court ; Vol. I., 339 

DEAN, HOSEA J., of Spartanburg, South Carolina ; Lawyer and 
Planter ; Clerk of the House of Representatives of South 
Carolina ; Vol. IV., ....... 5 

DEFORD, BENJAMIN, of Baltimore, Maryland; Manufac- 
turer and Merchant ; Vol. IV., . . . . .143 

DE FOREST, RICHARD, of Rochester, New York ; Cleryy- 

man; Vol. IV., 223 

DEVENS, DAVID, of Charlestown, Massachusetts ; Merchant ; 

President of the Bunker Hill Bank ; Vol. L, . . 21 

DE WITT, ALEXANDER, of Oxford, Massachusetts ; Financier 
and Politician; President of the Mechanics' Bank at Wor- 
cester ; Member of the Thirty-third Congress ; Vol. I., . 315 

DEXTER, S. NEWTON, of Whitestown, New York ; Merchant 
and Banker ; President of the Bank of Whitestown ; 
Vol. II., 819 

DICKERSON, CORNELIUS S., of Dover, New Jersey; Farmer 

and Banker ; Vol. IV., ...... 253 

DIFFENDERFFER, HENRY, of Baltimore, Maryland ; Author; 

Vol. IV., 343 

DIXON, ABCHIBALD, of Henderson, Kentucky ; Laivyer ; 

United States Senator ; Vol. II., .... 737 

DOBBIN, JAMES C, of Fayetteville, North Carolina ; Lawyer 

and Statesman; Secretary of the Navy ; Vol. IIL, . 65 



CONTENTS. IX 

PAQE 

DOBBINS, MILES G., of Griffin, Georgia ; Financier ; Agent 

Bank State of Georgia ; Vol. IV., .... 114 

DOBYNS, JOHN PORTER, ofMaysville, Kentucky ; Merchant; 

President of the Maysville Branch of the Farmers' Bank 

of Kentucky ; Vol. I., ...... 7 

DOWDELL, JAMES F., of Lafayette, Alabama ; Lawyer and 

Statesman ; Member of the Thirty-third Congress ; Vol. 

IV 1 

DOWNES, GEORGE, of Calais, Maine ; Financier ; President 

of the Calais Bank ; Vol. I., . . ... . . 239 

DUFFEE, FRANCIS H., of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; 
Banker; Member of the Select Council of Philadelphia ; 
Vol. IV., 169 

BUTTON, HENRY, of New Haven, Connecticut ; Laivyer; late 
Professor of Law in Yale College ; Governor of Connec- 
ticut ; Vol. II., 687 

EAVES, NATHANIEL R., of Chesterville, South Carolina; 

Laioyer; Member of the Senate of South Carolina ; VoL II., 597 

EDDY, ZECHARIAH, of Middleboro', Massachusetts ; Lawyer; 

EDMONDS, JOHN W., of New York ; Lawyer; late Judge of 

the Supreme Court of New York ; Vol. II., . . . 797 

EMMONS, H. H., of Detroit, Michigan ; Zaii'yer; Vol. IL, . 451 
EVERHART, WILLIAM, of West Chester, Pennsylvania ; States- 
man; Member of the Thirty-third Congress ; Vol. IV., . 471 
EVERITT, ABRAHAM, of South Amboy, New Jersey ; States- 
man; Vol. IV., 139 

FAERAR, EDWIN, of Richmond, Virginia; Merchant; Vol. 

IV., 161 

FINLAYSON, JOHN, of Jefferson County, Florida ; Planter 

ami Statesman ; Vol. TIL, . /. . . . . 453 

FISHER, GEORGE, of San Francisco, California ; Editor, &c. ; 
now Secretary of the Californian Land Commission ; Vol. 
IH., . . 441 

FOGG, FRANCIS BRINLEY, of Nashville, Tennessee ; Lawyer; 
Member of the State Constitutional Convention of Ten- 
nessee, in 1834 ; Vol. II., 067 

FONTxilNE, EDMUND, of Richmond, Virginia ; Soldier and 
Statesman ; President of the Virginia Central Rail-Road ; 
Vol. IV., 103 

FOSTER, LAFAYETTE S., of Norwich, Connecticut ; Law- 
yer ; formerly Mayor of Norwich, and Speaker of the Con- 
necticut House of Representatives ; U. S. Senator ; Vol. I., 1 

FLETCHER, ELIJAH, of Amherst, Virginia; Planter and 

Statesman; Vol. IV., . . . . , . 15 



X CONTENTS. 

FA.ax 
FKEELON, THOMAS W., of San Francisco, California ; Law- 
yer ; County Judge ; Vol. IV., 425 

FULLER, HENRY H., of Boston, Massachusetts, Lawyer; (de- 
ceased since the publication of his memoir ;) Vol. L, . 1*73 

GARLAND, HUGH A., of St. Louis, Missouri ; Lawyer and 

Author; Vol. H., 657 

GEORGE, ROBERT, of Scroggsfield, Ohio ; Vol. IV. . . 502 

GILMER, JOHN A., of Guilford County, North Carolina; 

Lawyer ; Vol. I., ....... 343 

GOODWYN, ROBERT H., of Columbia, South Carolina ; Phy- 
sician, Financier and Planter ; President of the Bank 
of the State of South Carolina; Vol. I., . . .193 

GORDON, GEORGE H., of Woodville, Mississippi; Lawyer 
and Planter ; Delegate to the Democratic Convention, 
1852 ; Vol. I., . . - 45 

GOTT, JAMES R., of Rockport, Massachusetts; Banker; 

VohllL, 64 

GOULD, JACOB, of Rochester, New York ; Merchant ; former- 
ly United States Marshal for the Northern District of 
New York ; now President of the Farmers' and Me- 
chanics' Bank ; Vol. I., "75 

GOVE, CHARLES F., of Nashua, New Hampshire ; Lawyer 

and Statesman ; Vol. IV., ...... 242 

GRACE, WILLIAM P., of Pine Bluff, Arkansas; Lawyer ; 

Vol. I., 323 

GRAVES, CALVIN, of Locust Hill, North Carolina ; Laioyer ; 

formerly Speaker of the House of Commons; Vol. I., . 187 

GRIDLEY, ALBERT GALLATIN, of Clinton, New York ; 
Merchant and Banker; President of the Kirkland Bank ; 
Vol. I., 63 

GRIER, EGBERT COOPER, of Philadeli^hia, Pennsylvania; 
Lawyer ; Justice of the Supreme Court of the United 
States ; Vol. II., 813 

GRISWOLD, HIRAM, of Cleveland, Ohio ; Lawyer ; late Re- 
porter for the Supreme Court; Vol. L, . . . . 373 

GUTHRIE, JAMES, of Louisville, Kentucky; Lawyer and 

Statesman; Secretaiy of the Treasury ; Vol. HI., . . 223 

HALDEMAN, S. S., of Columbia, Pennsylvania; Author; 

Vol. IV., 88 

HALL SAMUEL, of Princeton, Indiana ; Lawyer and Farmer ; 

formerly Lieutenant-Governor of Indiana; Vol. I., . 259 

HALL WILLARD, of Wilmington, Delaware ; Lawyer ; Judge 

'of the United States District Court for Delaware ; Vol. IL, 421 

HAMILTON, ALLEN, of Fort Wayne, Indiana ; Financier ; 

President of the Branch Bank at Fort Wayne ; Vol. I., 275 



CONTENTS. II 

PAGE 

HANLY, THOMAS BURKE, of Helena, Arkansas ; Lawyer ; 

Vol. IV., 445 

HAEPER, JOSEPH M., of Concord, New Hampshire ; Physi- 
cian ; President of the Mechanics' Bank ; Vol. I., . . 107 

HARRINGTON, SAMUEL MAXWELL, LL. D. of Dover, Del- 
aware ; Laiuyer and Author ; Justice Superior Court ; 
President of the Delaware Rail-Road; Vol. I., . . 129 

HARRIS, JAMES C.,> of Wetumpka, Alabama ; Physician ; 

Vol. IV., 110 

HARRIS, THOMAS, of Washington, District of Columbia; 
Physician ; formerly Chief of Bureau of Medicine and 
Surgery ; Vol. IV., 176 

HAYNE, ISAAC W., of Charleston, South Carolina ; Lawyer ; 

Attorney-General for the State of South Carolina; Vol. I., 383 

HAYT, SAMUEL A., of Fishkill, New York ; Banker and Mer- 
chant ; President Fishkill Bank ; Vol. III., . . . 365 

HITCHCOCK, PETER, (deceased,) late of Painesville, Ohio ; 

Jurist ; for many years Chief Justice of Ohio ; Vol. III., 183 

HOGG, JOSEPH L., of Rusk, Texas ; Lawyer and Statesman ; 

Vol. IV., 227 

HOOD, CHARLES C, of Somerset, Ohio ; Jurist ; Vol. IV., . 273 
HOWARD, W. G., of Rochester, New York ; Clergyman ; 

Vol. IV., ... 63 

HOYT, HIRAM, of Syracuse, New York ; Physician ; Vol. IV., 75 

HUBBS, PAUL K., of Benicia, CaHfornia; Merchant and 
Statesman; Superintendent of Public instruction in 
CaHfornia ; Vol. IV., 271 

HUMPHREYS, WEST H., of Nashville, Tennessee; Lawyer; 

Judge U. S. District Court ; Vol. II., .... 829 

HUNT, BENJAMIN F., of Charleston, South Carolina ; Lawyer; 

Vol.IL, 401 

JANUARY, ANDREW M., of Maysville, Kentucky ; Merchant; 
President of the Maysville Branch of the Bank of Ken- 
tucky ; Vol. II., 445 

JONES, LAZARUS J., of Paulding, Mississippi ; Planter and 

Author ; Vol. IV., 328 

KEITH, CHARLES F., of Athens, Tennessee; Lawyer and 
Planter ; Judge of the Circuit Court for the Third Cir- 
cuit ; Vol II., 763 

KNAPP, ISxiAC, of Freemont, Ohio ; Statesman; Vol. IV., . 120 
KNOWLES, JOHN A., of Lowell, Massachusetts; Lawyer; 

President of the Appleton Bank ; Vol. II., . . . 727 
KOCK, CHARLES, of New Orleans, Louisiana ; Planter and 

Merchant ; Vol. III., ....... 407 

LABAUVE, ZENON, of Plaquemine, Louisiana ; Lawyer and 

Planter ; Member of the Louisiana State Senate ; Vol. I., 11 



xn 



CONTENTS. 



LANDES, JOHN, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania ; Farmer ; Presi- 
dent of the Lancaster County Bank ; Vol. II., . . 629 

L'AMOREAUX, JAMES, of Albany, New York ; Law7/er and 

Jtirist; Vol. IV., 12 

LAWRENCE, WILLIAM, of Bellefontaine, Oliio ; Lawyer; 
late Member of the State Legislature, and Supreme Court 
Reporter ; Vol. I., . . . . . . .365 

LAYTON, WILLIAM E., of Newark, New Jersey ; Statesman ; 

Member Board of Council of Newark; Vol. IV., . . 231 

LEE, OLIVER H., of New York ; Engineer; Vol. III., . . 271 

LONG, STEPHEN H., Lieut. Colonel United States Topo- 
graphical Engineers ; Vol, IV., 477 

LUMPKIN, JOSEPH HENRY, of Athens, Georgia ; Lawyer ; 

Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia ; Vol. II., . 757 

MANN, HORACE, of Yellow Springs, Ohio; Author; Presi- 
dent of Antioch College, at Yellow Springs, Ohio ; Vol. 
IV., 178 

MARCHBANKS, ANDREW J., of McMinnville, Tennessee; 
Lawyer ; Judge of the Circuit Court for the 13th Cir- 
cuit; Vol. II., . I 563 

MARCY, WILLIAM L., of Albany, New York ; Lawyer and 

Statesman ; Secretary of State ; Vol. III., . . 215 

.MARSHAL, BENJAMIN, of Troy, New York ; Merchant and 

Manufacturer ; Vol. III., ...... 1 

MARSH, MULFORD, of Savannah, Georgia; Lawyer; Vol. L, 289 

Mx\SON, WILLIAM, of Taunton, Massachusetts ; Manufactu- 
rer ; President of the Machinists' Bank ; Vol. I., . . 13 

MEEKER, BRADLEY B., of St. Paul's, Minesota ; late Justice 

of the Supreme Court of Minesota; Vol. I., . . 319 

MERRICK, PLINY, of Worcester, Massachusetts ; Justice of the 

Supreme Court of Massaehusetts ; Vol.1., ... 39 

MILLS, WILLI AIM H., of Bangor, ISfaine ; Financier ; formerly 

Mayor of Bangor ; Cashier of the Eastern Bank ; Vol. II,, 665 

MINER, HIRAM J., of Fredonia, New York ; Merchant and 

Financier ; President of H. J. M.'s Bank ; Vol. II., . 509 

MONKUR, J. C. S., of Baltimore, Maryland ; Physician, Pro- 
fessor, &c., in the Washington University; Vol. III., . 435 
MOODY, DEXTER, of Troy, New York; Builder; Vol. IV., . 284 

MORELAND, JOHN F., of Heard County, Georgia ; Physician 

and PZaw^er ; Vol, III., 289 

McCLELLAND, ROBERT, of Lansing, Michigan ; Lawyer and 

Statesman; Secretary of the Interior ; Vol. III., . . 231 

McCLURE, WILLIAM B., of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania ; Law- 
yer ; Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the 5th 
District; Vol. I., .381 



CONTENTS. XIU 

JAGE 

McDUGALD, JOHN" G., of Elizabetlitown, North Carolina; 

Statesman; Vol. IV., 335 

McHENRY, JOHN H., of Hartford, Kentucky; Lawyer; Vol. 

m., 413 

McKAY, DONALD L,, of Georgetown, South Carolina ; Banker 

and Planter ; Vol. HI, 21 

McLEAN", JOHN, of Cincinnati, Ohio ; Lawyer ; Justice of the 

Supreme Court of the United States ; Vol. H., . . '789 
MUNN, IRA Y., of Woodford Co., Illinois ; Merchant; Vol. IV., 355 

NASH, JOHN W., of Powhattan, Virginia ; Lawyer ; Judge of 

Second Circuit Court ; Vol.11., . . ; . . 577 

NELSON, THOMAS, of Oregon City, Oregon ; Lawyer ; late 

Chief Justice of Oregon ; Vol. II., .... 559 

NORTON, GEORGE W., of Russellville, Kentucky ; Merchant ; 

President of the Southern Bank of Kentucky; Vol. II., 575 

ORR, JAMES L., of Anderson, C. H., South Carolina; Law- 
yer ; Member of Congress ; Vol. II., .... 393 

OVERTON, ARCHIBALD W., of Carthage, Tennessee ; Law- 
yer and Planter ; formerly on the Bench ; Vol. II., . 565 

OWEN, C. M., of Stockbridge, Massachusetts ; Banker ; Vol. IV., 291 

PADDOCK, LOVLAND, of Watertown, New York ; Merchant 
and Financier ; President of the Black River Bank ; 
Vd!. I., 67 

PARKER, WILLIAM, of Boston, Massachusetts ; Lawyer and 

Merchant; President of the Boylston Bank ; Vol.1., . 23 

PARKHURST, NATHAN C, of Pontiac, Michigan ; States- 
man; Vol. IV., 341 

PATTERSON, ANGUS, of Barnwell District, South Carohna ; 
Lawyer and Planter ; [deceased ;] late President of the 
State Senate ; Vol. I., 387 

PEABODY, GEORGE, of Danvers, Massachusetts ; Banker and 

Merchant in London ; Vol. III., . . . . 137 

PERRY, BENJAMIN F., of Greenville, South Carolina; Lawyer 

and Planter ; Vol. H., 581 

PERRY, HORATIO J., of New Hampshire ; Statesman ; Sec- 
retary U. S. Legation, at Madrid ; Vol. IV. . . . 448 

PETERS, FREDERICK G., of Nelson County, Virginia ; Phy- 
sician and Planter ; Vol. HI., ..... 255 

PHILLIPS, WILLARD, of Boston, Massachusetts; Lawyer, and 
Author of Phillips on Lnsurance, and other works ; Vol. 
L, 301 

PICKENS, EZEKIEL, of Selma, Alabama; Lawyer m6. Plan- 
ter ; formerly Circuit Judge and Member of the Ala- 
bama Legislature; Vol. I., . . . . . . 215 



XIV CONTENTS./ 

PAQB 

PIERCE, FRANKLIN, of Concord, New Hampshire ; Laivyer 
and Statesman ; President of the United States ; Vol. 
III., 203 

PILLOW, GIDEON J., of Cohimbia, Tennessee ; Lawyer and 

Planter ; Major-General in the Mexican War ; Vol. II., 691 

PIRTLE, HENRY, of Louisville, Kentucky ; Laivyer ; Chan- 
cellor of the Louisville Chancery Court; Vol, II., . . 731 

POMEROY, NOAH, of Meriden, Connecticut ; Manufacturer ; 

President of the Meriden Bank ; Vol. I., . . . 243 

POPE, JOHN, of Memphis, Tennessee ; Planter ; President of 

the Union Bank; Vol. II., ...... 628 

PRATT, O. C, of Portland, Oregon ; Jurist; formerly Asso- 
ciate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, 
in and for the Territory of Oregon ; Vol. IV., . . 56 

PRENTISS, SAMUEL, of Montpelier, Vermont; Lawyer; 
Judge of the United States District Court for Vermont ; 

voLiL, ni 

PRESCOTT, WILLIAM B., of Louisiana; Planter; Voh IV., 378 

PRINTUP, DANIEL S., of Rome, Georgia ; Lawyer ; Agent 

for the Bank of the State of South Carolina; Vol. II., . 443 

REEDER, ROBERT S., of Port Tobacco, Maryland ; Lawyer 
and Statesman ; States' Attorney for Charles County, 
Maryland ; Vol. IV., 19 

RICE, HARVEY, of Cleveland, Ohio ; Lawyer and Statesman; 

Vol. IV., 42 

ROSS, WILLIAM, of Pittsfield, Illinois ; Merchant ; Vol. IH., . 427 

ROST, PIERRE A, of New Orleans, Louisiana ; Laivyer and 
Planter ; one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of 
Louisiana; Vol, I,, ...... . 121 

ROTHWELL, ANDREW, of Washington, District of Colum- 
bia; ^m^Ao/-, &c. ; Vol. IV., 279 

ROWLAND, JOHN S., of Cass County, Georgia; Planter; 

Vol. IV., 266 

RUSSELL, WM. J., of Lawrenceville, Georgia; Physician and 

Planter ; Vol, HI., 281 

SAUNDERS, ISAAC, of North Scituate, Rhode Island ; Manu- 

facturer ; President of the Citizens' Union Bank ; Vol. I., 79 

SCHAEFFER, EMANUEL, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania ; Jurist ; 

President of the Lancaster Savings' Institute ; Vol. IV., . 144 

SCOTT, CHRISTOPHER C, of Camden, Arkansas ; Lawyer; 

Vol. IV., 287 

SEAL, RODERICK, of Biloxi, Mississippi ; Lawyer and States- 
man ;Yo\.lY., 294 

SEIBELS, JOHN J., of Alabama ; Statesman ; U. S. Minister 

Resident at Brussels ; Vol. IV., 4 58 



CONTEN M XV 



SHELTON, GEORGE, of Rochester, . ,S Merchant; 

Vol. III., /, ' . . .275 

SILLIMAN, R. D., of Troy, New York ; A , 'th(^t ; Vol. IV., . 59 

SIMMONS, JAMES P., of Lawrenceville,\ Georgia; Lawyer, 

Statesman and Planter ; Yo\, HI., \. . , . "79 

SIMON, EDWARD, Saint Martinsville, Louisiana ; Lawyer and 

Planter ; Vol. III., 409 

SISSON, DAVID, of Providence, Rhode Island ; Manufacturer; 

Vol. IV., 103 

SMITH, JOHN P., of Franklin, Connecticut; Statesman; Vol. 

IV., 346 

SMITH, JOSEPH, of Waterbury, Connecticut ; Statesman and 

Clergyjiian; No\.iy., 379 

SMITH, JOSEPH H., of Dover, New Hampshire ; Physician 

and Statesman ; Vol. III., 45 

SMITH, WILLIAM R., of Fayette, C. H., Alabama ; Member 

of Congress ; Vol. L, 207 

SNYDER, JACOB R., of San Francisco, California; Statesman; 

U. S. Assistant Treasurer for California; Vol. IV,, . 347 

STARR, PiVRLEY, of Windham County, Vermont ; Physician ; 

Vol. IV., 475 

TALLMADGE, DARIUS, of Lancaster, Ohio ; Financier ; Presi- 
dent of the Hocking Valley Bank ; Vol. L, , . . 295 

TAYLOR, JOHN, of Albany, New York ; Merchant and Manu- 
facturer ; Vol. IV., 64 

TAYLOR, WILLIAM, of Findlay, Ohio ; Statesman ; Vol. IV., 434 

TEALL, OLIVER, of Syracuse, New York ; Manufacturer and 
Financier ; President of the Onondaga County Bank ; 
Vol. L, 101 

TOLAND, HUGH H., of San Francisco, Cahfornia; Physi- 
cian; Vol. IV., 3g8 

TOWSON, NATHAN, of Maryland ; [deceased ;] late Paymas- 
ter-General of the U. S. Army ; Yo\. III., ... 95 

TRAIN, ASA W., of Milford, Connecticut ; Clergyman and 

Statesman; Vol. III., ....... 455 

TURNER, JESSE, of Van Buren, Arkansas ; Lawyer ; Vol. L, . 235 

VAN ANTWERP, VERPLANCK, of Keokuk, Iowa ; Lawyer 

and Statesman ; Vol. III., ...... 337 

WALBRIDGE, HIRAM, of New York ; Laioyer and Statesman ; 

Member of the Thirty-third Congress ; Vol. IV., . , 365, 

WALKER, IIENR\ C., of Memphis, Tennessee; Merchant; 

Vol. IV., 160 

WALKER, THOMAS A., of Jacksonville, Alabama ; Z«?/»yer ; 

Judge of the Circuit Court for the Fifth Circuit ; Vol. I., 225 
WALLIS, JOHN C, of Chapel Hill, Texas ; Vol. IV., . . 373 



\ 



XVI I £NTS. 



PAGE 



WALWORTH, REx\3B. jf Saratoga Springs, New York ; 

' the last of the 'J e\. rk Chancellors; Vol.11., . . 487 
WARD, MARCUS L.,of ^ ewark, New Jersey; Vol. IV., . 68 
WARNER, HIRAM, of Gr/eenville, Georgia ; Lawyer ; Judge of 

the Supreme Cour,t of Georgia ; Vol.1., . . . 255 

WARREN, LOTT, of Albany, Georgia; Lawyer ; formerly Judge 

of the Superior Court ; Vol. II., 747 

WASHINGTON, W/H., of Newbern, North Carolina ; Lawyer 

and ^S^tai^smifirw ; Vol. III., ...... 359 

WHEELER, ALFRED, of San Francisco, California ; Lawyer ; 

late Attorney for the United States in California ; Vol. II., 435 

WHITE, JOHN BLAKE, of Charleston, South Carolina; 

Lawyer^ Author sxv6i Planter i^oX.V^ .^ . . . 306 

WHITE, JOHN J., of Sumner County, Tennessee ; Lawyer and 

Statesman; Vol. IV., 34 

WHITE, PHILO, of Wisconsin ; JSditor and Statesman; U. S. 

Minister, resident at Quito, South America ; Vol. IV., . 398 

WHITTEMORE, THOMAS, of Cambridge, Massachusetts; 
Clergyman and Financier, Editor and Author ; Presi- 
dent of the Cambridge Bank ; Vol. I., ... 135 

WILLIAMS, ARCHIBALD, of Quincy, Illinois; Lawyer; for- 
merly U. S. Attorney for the State ; Vol. H., . . 679 

WILSON, DANIEL A., of Lynchburgh, Virginia ; Lawyer ; 
formerly one of the Judges of the General Court of 
Virginia ; Vol. H., 429 

WILSON, JOEL W., of Tiffin, Ohio ; Laivyer and Statesman ; 

Vol. III. 447 

WOODRUFF, EDWARD, of Cincinnati, Ohio ; Lawyer ; Judge 

of the first Judicial District of the State of Ohio ; Vol. IV., 260 

WOODSON, DAVID M., of Carrolton, Illinois ; Lawyer; Judge 

of the First Circuit Court; Vol. II., .... 681 

WOODWARD, JOHN L., of Gulloden, Georgia ; Pfon^er ; Vol. 

IV., : . 116 



PRICE OF TeE AMERICAN PORTRAIT GALLERY. 

Bound in cloth, plain, |3 a volume, or the four vols, complete for $12 00 

Bound in cloth, full gilt, $4 a vol., or the four vols, complete for 16 00 

Bound in morocco or calf extra, full gilt, $6 a volume, or the 

four vols, complete for . . . . . .24 00 

J^W The whole complete, or any separate volume, may be purchased 
of booksellers in the city of New York, or will be sent by mail or express 
to any part of the United States, on receipt of the money, by John Liv- 
ingston, 157 Broadway, New-York. Being of very expensive character, 
the work is published by subscrijjtion, and the best Avay to obtain it is 
to send the money by mail or otherwise direct to the jiublisher. 



AMERICAN PORTRAIT GALLERY CIRCULAR. Ul 

duties, but by subordinating them to avarice, be will lose his business and 
character without in the end obtaining the riches thus viciously pursued. 

A politician who interests himself usefully in public matters will obtain 
oflBcial station as an incident of his usefulness; but should he make office 
the motive of his political conduct, he will be as often uselessly busy as 
actively useful, and give offence by officiousness rather than gain favor by 
usefulness. So, an officer who discharges faithfully his public duties will 
obtain popularity as an incident of his faithfulness ; but should he pur- 
sue popularity as the object of his actions, he will not, necessarily, dis- 
charge faithfully his duties, but will subordinate them to his popularity, 
and so waver in his conduct and fluctuate in his sentiments as to fail in 
reaching the desired end. A physician who skillfully performs his prac- 
tice will obtain celebrity and patronage as incidents of his skill ; but 
should he pursue celebrity and patronage as motives, he will magnify 
slight ailments, that he may obtain the merit of achieving astonishing 
recoveries. He will publish miraculous cures which never occurred, 
and he will be contemned rather than obtain patronage and celebrity. 

A like principle pervades, necessarily, all the business occupations of 
life. The organization of man, of society, and of the universe, are alike 
favorable to honesty and virtuous conduct. Duties faithfully discharged 
lead to wealth and honor ; duties selfishly performed to poverty and dis- 
grace. There are many memoirs in this work illustrative of these truths. 

It is needless to remark further on the extended information and de- 
light we derive from the multiplication of portraits by engraving, or on 
the more important advantages resulting from the study of biography. 
Separately considered, the one affords an amusement not less innocent 
than elegant, inculcates the rudiments, or aids the progress of taste, and 
rescues from the hand of time the perishable monuments raised by the 
pencil or the daguerrean art. The other — while it is, perhaps, the more 
agreeable branch of historical literature — is certainly the more useful in 
its moral effects ; stating the known circumstances, and endeavoring to 
unfold the secret motives of human conduct ; selecting all that is worthy 
of being recorded, it at once informs and invigorates the mind, warms 
and mends the heart. It is, however, from the combination of portrait 
and biography that we reap the utmost degree of utility and pleasure 
which can be derived from them. As, in contemplating the portrait of 
a person, we long to be instructed in his history, so, in considering his 
actions, we are anxious to behold his countenance. So earnest is this 
desire, that the imagination is ready to coin a set of features or to con- 
ceive a character to supply the painful absence of one or the other. It 
is impossible to conceive a work which ought to be more interesting than 
one which will exhibit before our progeny their fathers as they lived, 
accompanied with such memoirs of their lives and characters as shall 
furnish a comparison of persons and countenances with sentiments and 
actions. 



JSW See following pages for Table of Contents of the four volumes. 
See the last page for the price of the work. 



IV AMERICAN PORTRAIT GALLERY CIRCULAR. 



A FEW NOTICES OF THE PRESS. 

In a recent notice the New- York Commercial Advertiser says : 
The portraits are all engraved from daguerreotypes, in the finest style 
of the art, and are undoubtedly correct. We can vouch foi- the remark- 
able fidelity of the likenesses of those persons with whose faces we are 
familiar. This truly national work is creditable to the ability and enter- 
prise of Mr. Livingston, and should adorn every public and private 
library in the country. To expatiate on the value of such a work would 
be superfluous, as it must commend itself to universal favor. 

The Boston Daily Bee says : 

The volumes contain exquisitely finished steel plate engravings, which 
alone are worth far more than the cost of the work. It would be a tame 
cojtnpliment to remark that these portraits and memoirs form one of the 
most interesting works of the age. They are more — they are the most 
valuable. Here is a vast amount of information, which must have cost 
immense toil, and which none but an intellectual giant could or would 
have collected. One remarkable and most encouraging fact shines from 
every page of these volumes, viz. : that nearly all our men of eminence 
have risen from the ranks of the masses ; risen by the most indomitable 
energy, industry and integrity. 

We cordially recommend Mr. Livingston's great American work. It 
should be on every table and in every library, that the young of our land 
may draw inspiration and courage from the noble men it portrays. 

The JVeiu-York National Democrat says: 

So far as we know, this is the first book of any sort that purposes to 
hand down to after times, in an authentic form, the portraits and char- 
acters of men distinguished in the walks of private as well as of public 
life. The author's conception of the great work of living biographies 
"was fortunate in the extreme. No other plan of the kind has before 
been so fully undertaken and so well carried out. We cannot but regard 
this large and splendid production as one of the most remarkable and 
valuable this country has yet seen. 

The New-York Tribune says : 

It exhibits a remarkable catalogue of self-made men, and illustrates the 
steps by which they arose from obscurity to wealth and consideration. 
It is pleasing to remark that the individuals of whom sketches are here 
given are indebted for their success in life to genuine, sturdy, straightfor- 
ward qualities ; to energy, diligence and enterprise, rather than to the 
arts by which so many manage to swindle themselves into a good repu- 
tation. 

The Washington Daily Union says : 

By a large expenditure of means the author has attained to that point 
which he had 'in view when he commenced his labors upon it — that is, 
to make it a work which, while it might elicit admiration and praise as 
to its mechanical arrangement, should at the same time be a true histo- 
rical record of the lives and services of those eminent citizens whose por- 
traits adorn its columns. 



CONTENTS OF VOLUMES I., II., III. AND IV. 



NAMES OF SUBJECTS CLASSIFIED ALPHABETICALLY. 



PAGE 

ALCORN, JAMES L., of Coahoma Co., Mississippi ; Laioyer and 

Statesman ; Vol. IV., .106 

ALLEN, STEPHEN M., of Boston, Massachusetts ; Merchant 

and Banker; Vol. TIL, 57 

ANDERSON, SAMUEL, of Murfreesboro', Tennessee ; Lawyer; 

Judge of the Circuit Court for the Fifth Circuit ; Vol. IL, 419 

ANSPACn, JOHN, Junior, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; 

Merchant ; N o\. 111., 309 

AMONETT, JAMES J., of Richmond, Louisiana; Statesman 

and Jurist ; Vol. IV., 32 

AYER, RICHARD H., of Manchester, New Hampshire ; Manu- 
facturer; [deceased;] late President of the Amoskeag 
Bank; Vol. I., 113 

BADGER, LUTHER, of Binghamton, New York ; Lawyer; for- 
merly a Member of Congress; Vol. IL, .... 595 

BARBEE, ■WILLIx\M, of Troy, Ohio ; Statesman and Jurist ; 

Vol. IV., 125 

BARNARD, WILLIAM T., of Issaquena County, Mississippi ; 

Planter and Statesman ; Vol. IV., . . . .149 

BARRINGER, DANIEL M., of Cabarras County, North Caro- 
lina ; Lawyer ; formerly Member of the United States 
Congress, and Minister to the Court of Spain ; Vol. I., . 51 

BASH, HENRY M., of Baltimore, Maryland ; Merchant; Vol. IIL, 431 

BATTLE, WILLIAM H.,of Chapel Hill, North CaroUna; Law- 
yer; Judge of the Superior Court; Vol. IL, . , . 771 

BAXTER, ELI H., of Sparta, Georgia ; Latvyer and Jurist ; for- 
merly Judge of the Supreme Court ; Vol. III., . . 285 

BELL, MONTGOMERY, of Williamson County, Tennessee; 

Iron Manufacturer ;Yo\.Y^., 275 



Vl CONTENTS. 

PAOfi 

BIDDLE, HORACE P., of Logansport, Indiana; Lawyer and 
Author; President Judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit; 
Vol. L, 257 

BIERCE, LUCIUS V., of Akron, Ohio ; Lawyer, Statesman and 

Soldier; Vol. III., 247 

BOTTUM, NATHAN H., of Shaftesbury, Vermont ; Jurist and 

Statesman ;Yo\. TV., 286 

BOWLES, JOSHUA B., of Louisville, Kentucky ; Financier ; 

President of the Bank of Louisville ; Vol. 11. . . 646 

BOWMAN, JAMES L., of Brownsville, Pennsylvania; Mer- 
chant; President of the Monongahela Bank ; Vol. I., . 357 

BOUTELLE, TIMOTHY, of Waterville, Maine ; Lawyer and 

Statesman ; Vol. HI., ....... 41 

BRIERLY, BENJAMIN, of San Francisco, California; Clergy- 
man ; Vol. IV., 427 

BRIGHAM, JOSIAH, of Quincy, Massachusetts; Merchant; 

President of the Quincy Stone Bank ; Vol. I., . . 31 

BRISBANE, A. H., of Charleston, South Carolina ; Soldier and 

Planter ;yo\. III., 317 

BROOKS, CHARLES, of Medford, Massachusetts ; Author and 

Clergyman ; Vol. HI., . . . . . . .257 

BROOKS, NATHAN C, of Baltimore, Maryland ; Author and 

Teacher ;yo\. III., 161 

BROWN, AARON V., of Nashville, Tennessee ; Lawyer ; late 

Governor of Tennessee, and Member of Congress ; Vol. I., 89 

BROWN, EDWIN R., of Gallatin, Mississippi ; Planter and 

Statesman; Vol. IV,, 320 

BROWN, SAMUEL A., of Jamestown, New York ; Lawyer ; 

formerly Member of the New York Assembly ; Vol. I. . 53 

BROWN, WILLIAM G., of Kingwood, Virginia; Laivyer and 

Statesman ; Yo\. III., ....... 333 

BULLOCK, WILLIAM F., of Louisville, Kentucky ; Lawyer ; 

Judge of the Circuit Court for the Sixth Circuit; Vol. I., 283 

BURNET, JACOB, of Cincinnati, Ohio ; Lawyer ; late United 
States Senator, and Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio ; 
Vol. I., 265 

CALHOUN, JAMES M., of Atlanta, Georgia; Laivyer, States- 
man and Soldier; Vol. IV., 52 

CAMPBELL, DAVID, of Newark, New Jersey ; Merchant ; 

Vol. IV., 72 

CAMPBELL, JAMES, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Lawyer 

and Statesman; Postmaster-General ; Vol. HI., . . 239 
CAMPBELL, JOHN C, of Wheeling, Virginia ; Physician ; 

President of the Northwestern Bank of Virginia; Vol. I., 161 
CATCHINGS, THOMAS J., of Hinds County, Mississippi ; Phy- 
sician and Statesman ; Vol. IV., 281 



CONTENTS. Til 

PAGB 

CATRON, JOHN, of Nashville, Tennessee; Laimjer ; Justice of 

the Supreme Court of the United States ; Vol. II., . . 805 

CHAMBERLAIN, EBENEZER M., of Goshen, Indiana; Law- 
yer and Statesman ; Member of Thirty-third Congress ; 
VohlV., 150 

CHAPMAN, JOHN BUTLER, of Oberlin, Ohio; Statesman; 

VoLIV,, 436 

CHAPMAN, JOHN GRANT, of Glen Albin, Maryland ; Lawyer 

and Planter ; Vol. IV., ...... 252 

CHRISTY, WILLIAM, of New Orleans, Louisiana ; Lawyer and 

Soldier ; Y oh III., 375 

CHURCH, LEONARD, of Lee, Massachusetts ; Paper Manu- 
facturer ; President of the Lee Bank ; Vol. I., . ' . 35 

CLARK, LINCOLN, of Du Buque, Iowa ; Lawyer and States- 
man ; Vol. IV., 156 

CLARKE, WILLIAM B., of Hagerstown, Maryland; Lawyer; 
Member of the House of Delegates in 1844, and Senate 
in 1846 ; Vol. I. 299 

CLAY, JOHN RANDOLPH, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ; 
Di2ylomatist; Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States 
to Peru, South America ; Vol. I., .... 133 

CLEVELAND, ELIJAH, of Irasburg, Vermont ; Jurist and 

Statesman ; Vol. IV., ....... 145 

CO ALE, JAMES M., of Frederick, Maryland ; Lawyer ; 

VoLIIL, 299 

COLT, JAMES B., of St. Louis, Missouri ; Lawyer; late Judge of 

the Criminal Court of St. Louis ; Vol. I., . . . 149 

CONVERSE, E. A., of Tolland, Connecticut; Banker and Mer- 
chant ; Vol. III., ........ 91 

COOPER, DAVID, of St. Paul, Minesota; Latvyer and Jurist; 
formerly Judge of the Supreme Court of Minesota; 
Vol. IV., 15 

COOP WOOD, THOMAS, of Aberdeen, Mississippi ; Lawyer 

and Planter; Vol. II., . . . . . . .631 

COTHREN, WILLIAM, of Woodbury, Connecticut; Lawyer 

and Author ; Vol. IV., 39I 

COXE, RICHARD S., of Washington, District of Columbia ; 

Lawyer ; Vol. I., 247 

CRAWFORD, JOEL, of Early County, Georgia; Lawyer, 

Statesman ?ai^ Planter ; Yo\.\ll., .... 177 
CREY, FREDERICK, of Baltimore, Maryland ; Vol. IIL . , 433 

CROSKEY, JOSEPH R. K., of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ; U., 

S. Consul at Southampton, England ; Merchant ; Vol. IV., 297 

CULLOM, E. NORTH, of Opelousas, Louisiana ; Lawyer ; Mem- 
ber of the House of Representatives of Louisiana ; Vol. IV., 360 



Vlll 



CONTENTS. 



I>AOS 

CULVER, REUBEN, of Logan, Ohio ; Lawyer; President of the 

Logan Branch Bank ; Vol. L, . . . ' . . 95 

GUSHING, CALEB, of Newburyport, Massachusetts ; Lavnjer^ 
Soldier and Statesman ; Attorney-General for the 
United States ; Vol. IIL, 243 

CUSHMAN, HENRY W., of Bernardston, Massachusetts; 

Statesman; formerly Lieutenant Governor ; Vol. HL, . 29 

CUTLER, PLINY, of Boston, Massachusetts ; Merchant; Presi- 
dent of the Atlantic Bank ; Vol. L, . . . . 32T 

DARBY, JOHN F., of St. Louis, Missouri ; Lawyer ; late Mem- 
ber of the Thirty-second Congress ; Vol. L, •. ^ . 333 

DAVIS, CHARLES D., of Monroe, Georgia ; Lawyer and States- 
man ; Vol. IV., ........ 134 

DAVIS, D. A., of Salisbury, North Carolina ; Banker; Cashier of 

the Branch of the Bank of Cape Fear ; Vol. IV., . . 130 

DAVIS, JEFFERSON, of Mississippi ; Soldier, Planter and 

Statesman; Secretary of War ; Vol. IIL, . . . 235 

DAY, JOSEPH, of Jones County, Georgia ; Jurist and Planter ; 

Vol. IV., 238 

DEAN, GILBERT, of Poughkeepsie, New York ; Lawyer; late 
Member of Congress ; now Judge of New York Supreme 
Court ; Vol. I., 339 

DEAN, HOSE A J., of Spartanburg, South Carolina ; Lawyer and 
Planter ; Clerk of the House of Representatives of South 
Carolina ; Vol. IV., ....... 5 

DEFORD, BENJAMIN, of Baltimore, Maryland; Manufac- 
turer im(^. Merchant ; Vol. IV., . . . . .143 

DE FOREST, RICHARD, of Rochester, New York ; Clergy- 
man ; Vol. IV., 223 

DEVENS, DAVID, of Charlestown, Massachusetts ; Merchant ; 

President of the Bunker Hill Bank ; Vol. L, . . 21 

DE WITT, ALEXANDER, of Oxford, Massachusetts; Financier 
and Politician; President of the Mechanics' Bank at Wor- 
cester ; Member of the Thirty-third Congress ; Vol. L, . 315 

DEXTER, S. NEWTON, of Whitestown, New York ; Merchant 
and Banker ; President of the Bank of Whitestown ; 
Vol. II., 819 

DICKERSON, CORNELIUS S., of Dover, New Jersey; Farmer 

and Banker ; Vol. IV., . . . . . .253 

DIFFENDERFFER, HENRY, of Baltimore, Maryland; Author; 

Vol. IV., 343 

DIXON, ABCHIBALD, of Henderson, Kentucky ; Lawyer ; 

United States Senator ; Vol. II., . . . .737 

DOBBIN, JAMES C, of Fayette^alle, North Carolina ; Lawyer 

and Statesman; Secretary of the Navy ; Vol. IIL, . 65 



CONTENTS. \ IX 

PAOE 

DOBBINS, MILES G., of Griffin, Georgia ; Financier ; Agent 

Bank State of Georgia ; Vol. IV., . . . .114 

DOBYNS, JOHN PORTER, of Maysville, Kentucky; Merchant; 

President of the Maysville Branch of the Farmers' Bank 

of Kentucky ; Vol. I., '7 

DOWDELL, JAMES F., of Lafayette, Alabama ; Lawyer and 

Statesman ; Member of the Thirty-third Congress ; Vol. 

IV., 1 

DOWNES, GEORGE, of Calais, Maine ; Financier ; President 

of the Calais Bank ; Vol. I., 239 

DUFFEE, FRANCIS H., of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; 

Banker; Member of the Select Council of Philadelphia ; 

Vol. IV., . . . . ' 169 

BUTTON, HENRY, of New Haven, Connecticut ; Latoyer; late 
Professor of Law in Yale College ; Governor of Connec- 
ticut; Vol. II., 68f 

EAVES, NATHANIEL R., of Chesterville, South Carolina; 

Lawyer; Member of the Senate of South Carolina ; Vol. II., 597 

EDDY, ZECHARIAH, of Middleboro', Massachusetts ; Lawrjer ; 

Vol. III., ......... 5 

EDMONDS, JOHN W., of New York ; Lawyer; late Judge of 

the Supreme Court of New York ; Vol. II., . . . 79Y 
EMMONS, H. H., of Detroit, Michigan; Lawijer; Vol. IL, . 451 

EVERHART, WILLIAM, of West Chester, Pennsylvania ; States- 
man; Member of the Thirty-third Congress ; Vol. IV., . 4*71 

EVERITT, ABRAHAM, of South Amboy, New Jersey ; States- 
man; Vol. IV., ....... 139 

FARRAR, EDWIN, of Richmond, Virginia; Merchant; Vol. 

IV., . 161 

FINLAYSON, JOHN, of Jefferson County, Florida ; Planter 

and Statesman ; Vol. III., 45S 

FISHER, GEORGE, of San Francisco, California ; Mitor, &c. ; 

now Secretary of the Californian I^nd Commission ; Vol. 

III., / . . . . 441 

FOGG, FRANCIS BRINLEY, of Nash/iHe, Tennessee ; Lawyer; 
Member of the State Constitn<.^onal Convention of Ten- 
nessee, in 1834 ; Vol. IL, / 667 

FONTAINE, EDMUND, of Richmond, Virginia; Soldier and 
Statesman ; President of tba Virginia Central Rail-Road ; 
Vol. IV., 163 

FOSTER, LAFAYETTE S., o.' Norwich, Connecticut ; Law- 
yer ; formerly Mayor of Norwich, and Speaker of the Con- 
necticut House of Representatives ; U. S. Senator ; Vol. I., 1 

FLETCHER, ELIJAH, of Amherst, Virginia; Planter and 

Statesman; Vol. IV., 15 



CONTENTS. 



FREELON, THOMAS W., of San Francisco, California ; Law- 
yer ; County Judge ; Vol. IV., 425 

FULLER, HENRY H., of Boston, Massachusetts, Lawyer; (de- 
ceased since the publication of his memoir ;) Vol. L, . 1*73 

GARLAND, HUGH A., of St. Louis, Missouri ; Laxoyer and 

Author ; Vol. H., 657 

GEORGE, ROBERT, of Scroggsfield, Ohio ; Vol. IV. . . 502 

GILMER, JOHN A., of Guilford County, North Carolina; 

Lawyer ; Vol. L, ....... 343 

GOODWYN, ROBERT H., of Columbia, South Carolina ; Phy- 
sician, Financier and Planter ; President of the Bank 
of the State of South Carolina; Vol. L, . . . 193 

GORDON, GEORGE H., of Woodville, Mississippi; Lawyer 
and Planter ; Delegate to the Democratic Convention, 
1852 ; Vol. L, . . - 45 

GOTT, JAMES R., of Rockport, Massachusetts; Banker; 

Vol. III., . 54 

GOULD, JACOB, of Rochester, New York ; Merchant ; former- 
ly United States Marshal for the Northern District of 
New York ; now President of the Farmers' and Me- 
chanics' Bank ; Vol. I., 76 

GOVE, CHARLES F., of Nashua, New Hampshire ; Lawyer 

and Statesman ; Vol. IV., ...... 242 

GRACE, WILLIAM P., of Pine Bluff, Arkansas; Lawyer; 

Vol. L, 323 

GRAVES, CALVIN, of Locust Hill, North Carolina ; Lawyer ; 

formerly Speaker of the House of Commons; Vol. I., . 187 

GRIDLEY, ALBERT GALLATIN, of Clinton, New York ; 

Merchant and Banker; President of the Kirkland Bank ; 

Vol. I., 63 

GRIER, ROBERT COOPER, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; 

Lawyer ; Justice of the Supreme Court of the United. 

States ; Vol. II., 813 

GRISWOLD, HIRAM, of Clevet?nd, Ohio ; Laivyer ; late Re- 
porter for the Supreme Court ; Vol. L, . . . . 373 

GUTHRIE, JAMES, of Louisville, Kentucky; Lawyer and 

Statesman; Secretary of the 'Ireasury ; Vol. HI., . . 223 

HALDEMAN, S. S., of Columbia, Pennsylvania; Author; 

Vol. IV., 88 

HALL, SAMUEL, of Princeton, Indiana ; Lawyer and Farmer ; 

formerly Lieutenant-Governor of Indiana; Vol. I., . 259 

HALL, "WILLARD, of "Wilmington, Delaware ; Lawyer ; Judge 

of the United States District Court for Delaware ; Vol. II., 421 

HAMILTON, ALLEN, of Fort Wayne, Indiana ; Financier ; 

President of the Branch Bank at Fort Wayne ; Vol. L, 275 



CONTENTS. XI 

PAGE 

HANLY, THOMAS BURKE, of Helena, Arkansas ; Lawyer ; 

Vol. IV., 445 

HARPER, JOSEPH M., of Concord, New Hampshire ; Pki/si- 

cian ; President of the Mechanics' Bank ; Vol. I., . . 107 

HARRINGTON, SAMUEL MAXWELL, LL. D. of Dover, Del- 
aware; Lawyer and Author; Justice Superior Court; 
President of the Delaware Rail-Road ; Vol. I., . . 129 

HARRIS, JAMES C, of Wetumpka, Alabama; Physician; 

Vol. IV., 110 

HARRIS, THOMAS, of Washington, District of Columbia; 
Physician ; formerly Chief of Bureau of Medicine and 
Surgery ; Vol. IV., 176 

HAYNE, ISAAC W., of Charleston, South Cai'olina ; Lawyer ; 

Attorney-General for the State of South Carolina ; Vol. I., 383 

HAYT, SAMUEL A., of Fishkill, New York ; Banker and Mer- 
chant ; President Fishkill Bank ; Vol. III., . . . 365 

HITCHCOCK, PETER, (deceased,) late of Painesville, Ohio; 

Jurist ; for many years Chief Justice of Ohio ; Vol. III., 183 

HOGG, JOSEPH L., of Rusk, Texas ; Lawyer and Statesman ; 

Vol. IV., 227 

HOOD, CHARLES C, of Somerset, Ohio ; Jurist ; Vol. IV., . 273 

HOWARD, W. G., of Rochester, New York; Clergyman; 

Vol. IV., ... 63 

HOYT, HIRAM, of Syracuse, New York ; Physician ; Vol. IV., 75 

HUBBS, PAUL K., of Benicia, California; Merchant and 
Statesman; Superintendent of Public instruction in 
Cahfornia ; Vol. IV., 271 

HUMPHREYS, WEST H., of Nashville, Tennessee; Lawyer; 

Judge U. S, District Court ; Vol. II 829 

HUNT, BENJAMIN F., of Charleston, South Carolina ; Lawyer; 

Vol. IL, 401 

.JANUARY, ANDREW M., of Maysville, Kentucky ; Merchant; 
President of the Maysville Branch of the Bank of Keu- 
tucky ; Vol. IL, 445 

JONES, LAZARUS J., of Paulding, Mississippi ; Planter and 

Author ; Vol. IV., 328 

KEITH, CHARLES F., of Athens, Tennessee; Lawyer and 
Planter ; Judge of the Circuit Court for the Third Cir- 
cuit ; Vol H., 763 

KNAPP, ISAAC, of Freemont, Ohio ; Statesman; Vol. IV., . 120 

KNOWLES, JOHN A., of Lowell, Massachusetts; Lawyer; 

President of the Appleton Bank ; Vol. IL, . . .727 

KOCK, CHARLES, of New Orleans, Louisiana ; Planter and 

Merchant; Vol. III., , . 407 

LABAUVE, ZENON, of Plaquemine, Louisiana ; Lawyer and 

Planter ; Member of the Louisiana State Senate ; Vol. I., 11 



Xll CONTENTS. 



PAGS 



LANDES, JOHN, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania ; Farmer ; Presi- 
dent of the Lancaster County Bank ; Vol. IL, . . 629 

L'AMOREAUX, JAMES, of Albany, New York ; Laiuyer and 

Jurist; Vol. IV., ....... 12 

LAWRENCE, WILLIAM, of Bellefontaine, Ohio; Lawyer; 
late Member of the State Legislature, and Supreme Court 
Reporter ; Vol. L, ...... . 365 

LAYTON, WILLIAM E., of Newark, New Jersey ; Statesman ; 

Member Board of Council of Newark; Vol. IV., . . 281 

LEE, OLIVER H., of New York ; Engineer; Vol. III., . .271 
LONG, STEPHEN H., Lieut. Colonel United States Topo- 
graphical Engineers ; Vol. IV., ..... 47Y 
LUMPKIN, JOSEPH HENRY, of Athens, Georgia ; Lawyer ; 

Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia ; Vol. IL, . 75*7 

MANN, HORACE, of Yellow Springs, Ohio; Author; Presi- 
dent of Antioch College, at Yellow Springs, Ohio ; Vol. 
IV., 178 

MARCHBANKS, ANDREW J., of McMinnville, Tennessee; 
Lawyer ; Judge of the Circuit Court for the 13th Cir- 
cuit; Vol. IL, 563 

MARCY, WILLLAM L., of Albany, New York ; Laioyer and 

Statesman; Secretary of State ; Vol. HI,, . . 216 

MARSHAL, BENJAMIN, of Troy, New York ; Merchant and 

Manufacturer ; Vol. HI., ...... 1 

MARSH, MULFORD, of Savannah, Georgia; Lawyer; Vol. I., 289 

MASON, WILLIAM, of Taunton, Massachusetts ; Manufactu- 
rer ; President of the Machinists' Bank ; Vol. I., , . 13 

MEEKER, BRADLEY B., of St, Paul's, Minesota ; late Justice 

of the Supreme Court of Minesota; Vol. I., . . 319 

MERRICK, PLINY, of Worcester, Massachusetts ; Justice of the 

Supreme Court of Massaehusetts ; Vol. I., . . . 39 

MILLS, WILLIAM H., of Bangor, Maine ; Financier ; formerly 

Mayor of Bangor ; Cashier of the Eastern Bank ; Vol. II., 665 

MINER, HIRAM J,, of Fredonia, New York ; Merchant and 

Financier ; President of H. J. M.'s Bank ; Vol. II., . 509 

MONKUR, J. C. S,, of Baltimore, Maryland; Physician, Pro- 

/essor, &c., in the Washington University ; Vol. HI., . 435 

MOODY, DEXTER, of Troy, New York; Builder; Vol. IV., . 284 

MORELAND, JOHN F., of Heard County, Georgia ; Physician 

and PZanier ; Vol. HI., 289 

McClelland, Robert, of Lansing, Michigan ; Lawyer and 

Statesman; Secretary of the Interior ; Vol. HI,, . . 231 

McCLURE, WILLIAM B., of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania ; Lazv- ' 
yer ; Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the 5th 
District ; Vol, I., . . . \ . . .381 



^CONTENTS. Xlll 

PASE 

McDUGALD, JOHN G., of Elizabethtown, North Carolina; 

Statesman; Vol. IV., 335 

McHENRY, JOHN H., of Hartford, Kentucky ; Lawijer ; Vol. 

HI, 413 

McKAY, DONALD L,, of Georgetown, South Carolina; Banker 

and Planter ; Vol. HI, 21 

McLEAN, JOHN, of Cincinnati, Ohio ; Lawyer ; Justice of the 

Supreme Court of the United States; Vol. E., . , "ISO 

MUNN, IRA Y., of Woodford Co., Illinois ; Merchant; Vol. IV., 355 

NASH, JOHN W., of Powhattan, Virginia ; Lawyer ; Judge of 

Second Circuit Court ; Vol, II., 577 

NELSON, THOMAS, of Oregon City, Oregon ; Lawyer ; late 

Chief Justice of Oregon ; Vol. II., . , . .559 

NORTON, GEORGE W., of Russellville, Kentucky ; Merchant ; 

President of the Southern Bank of Kentucky; Vol. II., 575 

ORR, JAMES L., of Anderson, C. H., South Carolina ; Xaw)- 

yer ; Member of Congress ; Vol. II., .... 393 

OVERTON, ARCHIBALD W., of Carthage, Tennessee ; Law- 
yer and Planter ; formerly on the Bench ; Vol. IL, . 565 
OWEN, C. M., of Stockbridge, Massachusetts ; Banker ; Vol. IV., 291 

PADDOCK, LOVLAND, of Watertown, New York ; Merchant 
and Financier ; President of the Black River Bank ; 
Vol. L, ■ .... 67 

PARKER, WILLIAM, of Boston, Massachusetts ; Lawyer and 

Merchant ; President of the Boylston Bank ; Vol. I., . 23 

PARKHURST, NATHAN C, of Pontiac, Michigan ; States- 
man; Vol IV., 341 

PATTERSON, ANGUS, of Barnwell District, South Carolina ; 
Lawyer and Planter ; [deceased ;] late President of ,the 
State Senate ; Vol. I., 387 

PEABODY, GEORGE, of Danvers, Massachusetts ; Banker and 

Merchant in London ; Vol. HI., . . . .137 

PERRY, BENJAMIN F., of Greenville, South Carolina; Lawijer 

and Planter ; Vol. II., 581 

PERRY, HORATIO J., of New Hampshire ; Statesman ; Sec- 
retary U. S. Legation, at Madrid ; Vol. IV. . . . 448 

PETERS, FREDERICK G., of NelsonljOounty, Virginia ; Phy- 
sician and Planter ; Vol. III., ..... 255 

PHILLIPS, WILLARD, of Boston, Massachusetts ; Lawyer, and 
Author of Phillips on Insurance, and other works ; Vol. 
L, 301 

PICKENS, EZEKIEL, of Selraa, Alabama; Lawyer Sin^ Plan- 
ter ; formerly Circuit Judge and Member of the Ala- 
bama Legislature ; Vol, I., 215 



XIV CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

PIERCE, FRANKLIN, of Concord, New Hampshire ; Lawyer 
and Statesman; President of the United States; Vol. 
III., 203 

PILLOW, GIDEON J., of Columbia, Tennessee ; Lawyer and 

Planter ; Major-General in the Mexican War ; Vol. II., 691 

PIRTLE, HENRY, of Louisville, Kentucky ; Lawyer ; Chan- 
cellor of the Louisville Chancery Court ; Vol, II., . . TSl 

POMEROY, NOAH, of Meriden, Connecticut; Manufacturer ; 

President of the Meriden Bank ; Vol, I., , . . 243 

POPE, JOHN, of Memphis, Tennessee; Plantei- ; President of 

the Union Bank; Vol. II., 623 

PRATT, O. C„ of Portland, Oregon ; Jurist ; formerly Asso- 
ciate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, 
in and for the Territory of Oregon ; Vol. IV., . . 56 

PRENTISS, SAMUEL, of Montpelier, Vermont; Lawyer; 
Judge of the United States District Court for Vermont ; 
Vol. IL, '71'J' 

PRESCOTT, WILLIAM B., of Louisiana ; Planter ; Vol. IV., 3*78 

PRINTUP, DANIEL S., of Rome, Georgia ; Lawyer; Agent 

for the Bank of the State of South Carolina ; Vol, II., . 443 

REEDER, ROBERT S., of Port Tobacco, Maryland ; Lawyer 
and Statesman ; States' Attorney for Charles County, 
Maryland ; Vol. IV., 19 

RICE, HARVEY, of Cleveland, Ohio ; Lawyer and Statesman; 

Vol, IV., 42 

ROSS, WILLIAM, of Pittsfield, Illinois ; Merchant ; Vol. III., . 427 

ROST, PIERRE A, of New Orleans, Louisiana ; Lawyer and 
Planter ; one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of 
Louisiana; Vol. I., ...... . 121 

ROTHWELL, ANDREW, of Washington, District of Colum- 
bia; ^wiAor, &c, ; Vol, IV,, 279 

ROWLAND, JOHN S,, of Cass County, Georgia; Planter; 

Vol. IV., 266 

RUSSELL, WM. J., of Lawrenceville, Georgia; Physician and 

Planter ; Vol. IIL, 281 

SAUNDERS, ISAAC, of Norfh Scituate, Rhode Island ; Manu- 
facturer ; President of the Citizens' Union Bank ; Vol, I,, Y9 

SCHAEFFER, EMANUEL, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania ; Jurist ; 

Pl'esident of the Lancaster Savings' Institute ; Vol. IV., . 144 

SCOTT, CHRISTOPHER C, of Camden, Arkansas ; Lawyer; 

Vol. IV., 287 

SEAL, RODERICK, of Biloxi, Mississippi ; Lawyer and States- 
man ;Yo\.IY., 294 

SEIBELS, JOHN J., of Alabama ; Statesman ; U. S, Minister 

Resident at Brussels ; Vol. IV., 458 



CONTENTS. 3CV 

SHELTON, GEORGE, of Rochester, New York; Merchant; 

Vol! III., -..275 

SILLIMAN, R. D., of Troy, New York ; Merchant ; Vol. IV., . 59 
SIMMONS, JAMES P., of Lawrenceville, Georgia; Lawyer, 

Statesman and Planter ; Vol. III., . . . • '^^ 
SIMON, EDWARD, Saint Martinsville, Louisiana ; Laivtjer and 

Planter ; Vol. III., 409 

SISSON, DAVID, of Providence, Rhode Island ; Manufacturer; 

Vol. IV., 103 

SMITH JOHN P., of Franklin, Connecticut; Statesman; Vol. 

iv., 346 

SMITH, JOSEPH, of Waterbury, Connecticut ; Statesman and 

Clergyman ; Vol. IV., 379 

SMITH, JOSEPH H., of Dover, New Hampshire ; Physician 

and Statesman ; Vol. HI., ....•• ^5 
SMITH, WILLIAM R., of Fayette, C. H., Alabama ; Member 

of Congress ; Vol. I., 20^ 

SNYDER, JACOB R., of San Francisco, California ; Statesman ; 

U. S. Assistant Treasurer for California ; Vol. IV., . B41 

STARR, PARLEY, of Windham County, Vermont ; Physician ; 

Vol. IV., 475 

TALLMADGE, DARIUS, of Lancaster, Ohio ; Financier ; Presi- 
dent of the Hocking Valley Bank ; Vol. I., , . . 295 
TAYLOR, JOHN, of Albany, New York ; Merchant and Manu- 
facturer ; Vol. IV., ....... "4 

TAYLOR, WILLIAM, of Findlay, Ohio ; Statesman ; Vol. IV., 434 

TEALL, OLIVER, of Syracuse, New York ; Manufacturer and 
Financier ; President of the Onondaga County Bank ; 
Vol.1., 101 

TOLAND, HUGH H., of San Francisco, California; Physi- 
cian ; Vol. IV., .388 

TOWSON, NATHAN, of Maryland ; [deceased ;] late Paymas- 
ter-General of the U. S. Army ; Yo\. III., ... 95 

TRAIN, ASA W.. of Milford, Connecticut ; Clergyman and 

Statesman ;'Yo\.lll., .455 

TURNER, JESSE, of Van Buren, Arkansas ; Lawiyer ; Vol. I., . 235 

VAN ANTWERP, VERPLANCK, of Keokuk, Iowa ; Lawyer 

and Statesman/, Vol. III., ...... 33t 

WALBRIDGE, HIRAM, of New York ; Lawyer and Statesman ; 

Member of the Thirty-third Congress ; Vol. IV., . . 365 
WALKER, HENRY C, of Memphis, Tennessee; Merchant; 

Vol. IV., .160 

WALKER, THOMAS A., of Jacksonville, Alabama ; Xatoyer ; 

Judge of the Circuit Court for the Fifth Circuit ; Vol. I., 225 
WALLIS, JOHN C, of Chapel Hill, Texas ; Vol. IV., . . SYS 



XVI CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

WALWORTH, REUBEN H., of Saratoga Springs, New York ; 

the last of the New York Chancellors ; Vol. II., . . 48Y 
WARD, MARCUS L., of Newark, New Jersey; Vol. IV., . 68 
WARNER, HIRAM, of Greenville, Georgia ; Lcmtjer ; Judge of 

the Supreme Court of Georgia ; Vol. I., . . . 255 
WARREN, LOTT, of Albany, Georgia ; Zawyer; formerly Judge 

of the Superior Court ; Vol. II., . . . . . V47 
WASHINGTON, W. H., of Newbern, North Carolina ; Laioyer 

Siud. Statesman ;Yo\.lll.i ...... 359 

WHEELER, ALFRED, of San Francisco, California ; Lawyer ; 

late Attorney for the United States in California ; Vol. II., 435 
WHITE, JOHN BLAKE, of Charleston, South Carolina; 

Lawye7', Atithor and Planter ; Yol.W., . . . 306 
WHITE, JOHN J., of Sumner County, Tennessee ; Lawyer and 

Statesman ; Vol, IV., 34 

WHITE, PHILO, of Wisconsin ; Bditor and Statesman; U. S. 

Minister, resident at Quito, South America; Vol. IV., . 398 

WHITTEMORE, THOMAS, of Cambridge, Massachusetts; 
Clergyman and I^inancier, Editor and Author; Presi- 
dent of the Cambridge Bank ; Vol. I., , . . 135 

WILLIAMS, ARCHIBALD, of Quiucy, Illinois; Lawyer; for- 
merly U. S. Attorney for the State ; Vol. II., . . Ql9 

WILSON, DANIEL A., of Lynchburgh, Virginia ; Lawyer ; 
formerly one of the Judges of the General Court of 
Virginia ; Vol. II., 42& 

WILSON, JOEL W., of Tiffin, Ohio ; Lawyer and Statesman ; 

Vol. HI. 447 

WOODRUFF, EDWARD, of Cincinnati, Ohio; Laioijer ; Judge 

of the first Judicial District of the State of Ohio ; Vol. IV., 260 

WOODSON, DAVID M., of Carrolton, Illinois ; Lawyer; Judge 

of the First Circuit Court; Vol. II., .... 681 

WOODWARD, JOHN L., of Culloden, Georgia ; Planter ; Vol. 

IV., 116 



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WILLIAM T. BARNARD, OF MISSISSIPPI. 149 

dent of the Bank of Orleans, we believe it is no injustice to liis associates to 
say, that the cliief financical management of the institution has been 
contidecl to him, and in every exigency his fidelity and ability have never 
been questioned, and the result of his labors has always shown that the 
confidence reposed in him was not misplaced. 



WILLIAM T. BARNARD, 

OF ISSAQUENA COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI, 

Was born September 10th, 1821, in Adams county, Mississippi. His 
parents were natives of the same place, both his grandfathers ha\ang 
emigrated there at an early date. His father dying when our subject 
was quite young, and he being the eldest of the family, the duties of 
the management of the estate devolved principally upon him. He was 
married to Miss Sarah Elhaney, of West Feliciana, Louisiana, at the age 
of 19. At the age of 20 years, by the advice and influence of friends, he 
was emancipated by the State Legislature, to enable him legally to take 
charge of his father's estate, it having become very much embarrassed. 
But by a few years of judicious and prudent management, greatly assist- 
ed by the high confidence placed in Mr. Barnard by the creditors, he 
succeeded in relieving the estate of all incumbrances. In the fall of 1847 
he removed to Issaquena ccunty, Mississippi, where he now resides, 
following his father's occupation of cotton planting. In the fall of 1851 
he was elected member of the lower branch of the State Leo-islature. 



EBENEZER M. CHAMBERLAIN, 



OF INDIANA, 

Ebenezer M. Chamberlain, formerly President Judge of the Nintli 
Judicial Circuit in the State of Indiana, now a member of the XXXIV th 
Congress from the tenth Congressional district of the same State was, 
born in Orrington, Penobscot county, Maine, on the 20th August, 1805. 
His early education was hmited to such as could be obtained under the 
New England system of common schools, and these privileges were only 
enjoyed in the winter season, when his labor on the farm could, not be 
made available to the support of his father's family. At the age of six- 
teen he left the farm, and for six years wrought in a ship-yard, his father, 
according to the New England custom, receiving liis earnings until the 
sun went down on the day he completed his minority. 

After reaching his majority, he continued his labors in the ship-yard, 
until he had realized a sufficient sum from his earnings to enable him to 
spend six months at an academy, after which he entered the office of 
Elisha H. Allen, Esq., of Bangor, as a student at law\ He remained in 
this gentleman's office some three years, but his reading was necessarily 
much interrupted by the necessity of resorting to school-teaching to meet 
his current expenditures. 

It was while he was a student at law in 1831 that the Sunday Mail 
question engrossed so much of the public attention. In January of that 
year the question was formally introduced for discussion in the Bangor 
Forensic Club, of which he was a member. He took a leading part in 
the discussion, and delivered two arguments against its prohibition, which 
were thought to evince so much ability and independence in the then 
peculiar and immature state of public sentiment on that question in puri- 
tanical New England, as to be thought worthy of publication by a goodly 
portion of the large audience who heard them. They were accordingly 
published in pamphlet form by those who coincided with them in senti- 
ment, and extensively circulated. 

The laws of Maine requiring a preliminary study of seven years to 
qualify the applicant for admission to the bar, Mr. Chamberlain, in con- 
sideration of his age and limited means, determined to emigrate to the 
young, more liberal and vigorous West. Accordingly, in June, 1832, 
solitary and alone, with a few dollars in his pocket, the proceeds of the 
last winter's school, he set his face for Indiana, and arrived in Fayette 
county in the month following. After replenishing his exhausted treasury 
by a resort to the Yankee's universal remedy, the common school, he en- 
tered the office of Samuel W. Parke, Esq., of Connersville, a gentleman 
of high legal attainments, and at the present writing a member of the 
lower house of Congress. Associated with him in this office was An- 
drew Kennedy, another self-made man, who was destined to run a brief 
but brilliant career. They were examined and admitted to the bar to- 
gether on the 9th August, 1833. 

In the fall of that year Mr. Chamberlain removed to Elkhart county, 




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EBENEZER M. CHAMBERLAIN, OF INDIANA. 151 

then just emerging from the condition of an unbroken wilderness, and 
commenced the practice of his profession. In the summer of 1835 he 
was elected one of the two representatives in the Legislature from the 
whole northern portion of Indiana, embracing a territory of nearly one 
fifth part of the entire State. In December of the same year he was ex- 
amined and licensed by Judge Blackford and his associates, to practise 
at the bar of the Supreme Court of the State. 

He was re-elected a representative in 1837, and occupied a prominent 
position on the committee to investigate the affairs and condition of the 
State Bank of Indiana. 

On the 28th day of November, 1838, he was united in marriage to 
Phebe Ann Hascall, eldest daughter of Amasa Ilascall, Esq., of Le Boy, 
New York, a lady pre-eminent for all those amiabler qualities which adorn 
as they sanctify the domestic relations. In the summer of 1839 he was 
elected to the State Senate for a term of three years. During the stormy 
session of 1841, by request of the State Central Committee, he delivered 
an address before the Democratic State Convention on the anniversary 
of the battle of New Orleans. The address furnishes strong evidence of 
the high state of party spirit which then pervaded the Union. Com- 
mencing with the administration of Mr. Jefferson, he traced with a vigor- 
ous hand the history of the two great political parties down, through the 
second war with England, and through all the conflicts of party to that 
time, and was not over-choice in his denunciation of the opposition. 
President Van Burea had just been defeated in a conflict unparalleled 
for excitement, detraction, and abuse in the history of the country, and it 
was but natural that the speaker should regard him and his administra- 
tion as pi'oper subjects for eulogy. 

We make a few extracts : 

" The administration of Andrew Jackson formed an epoch in the his- 
tory of this mighty republic, as did that of his great political model, 
Thomas Jefferson. Such vigor, however, had the Hydras and Gorgons 
of Fedei'alism acquired by long feasting upon the very vitals of the Con- 
stitution, that they were not to be exterminated by one efibrt of Hercules. 
And as his successor, to carry out his measures, to perpetuate his prin- 
ciples, to finish the task of political regeneration which Jackson had so 
gloriously begun, the democracy of th)3 country turned their eyes on that 
sworn enemy of Federalism, Marlin Van Buren. 

"Raised from obscurity to eminence by the unaided energies of his 
own gi-eat mind and unblemished moral worth, endeared to the democracy 
by his bold and manly vindication of our principles, and by liis noble and 
unwavering devotion to his country, which, in times that tried men's 
souls, found deliverance in the wisdom and patriotism of his measures 
in her councils, when a Hull had bel rayed, and a Harrison had abandoned 
her in the field — proscribed, hated, and vindictively hunted down by the 
Federal party, he was the man pre-eminently entitled to our confidence 
and support, and worthy of that high lionor. With all his principles 
distinctly avowed, the honor was conferied. As chief magistrate of the 
nation, he neglected no duty, violated no pledge, betrayed no trust, dis- 
.'ippointed no expectation, abandoned no principle, usurped no power, 
but in all things has been faithful, and adhered strictly to the simple, 
self-denying ordinances of the Consiitution." 



152 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

After denouncing the means and appliances resorted to in tlie cam- 
paign of 1840, and predicting the dissohition of tlie Whig party into its 
orio'inal elements, he closes with the following: word of encouraGfement to 
his political friends : 

'•In all that we have seen, and all that as a party we have suffered, 
is there any cause of alarm or despair ? No, my friends. The apparent 
success of our political opponents is but the more positive evidence of 
their final and more complete prostration. It is but the last unnatural 
effort, to which they have been stung by expiring agony, which but the 
more fearfully betokens their final dissolution. Does any one doubt their 
utter overthrow, at the expiration of four years' career of madness and 
folly, in the abuse of their ill-gotten power ? Le tthose doubt v/ ho dis- 
trust the people, but wofully deceived are they who flatter themselves 
that we are about to surrender at discretion. Courage tlien. Democrats ! 
Our principles are left us, if for a time our power is gone, and that, thank 
God, is the greater consolation of the two." 

The session of 1841 was one of unusual partisan violence. The whirl- 
Avind of 1840 had reduced the democratic strenolh in the Senate to thir- 
teen members in a body of fifty — the Whigs having in fact a quorum in 
both branches of the Legislature. On all occasions during the discussion 
in the Senate of the measures wJiich occupied the attention subsequently 
of the extra session of Congress, Mr. Chamberlain was the prominent 
debater on the Democratic side of the House, and if he failed in con- 
vincing his antagonists, he at least made his mark in the intellectual con- 
flict, and encouraged the forlorn hope who recognised him as a leader. 
His labors on the committee of investigation of the management of the 
internal improvement system, and of the committee on corporations, 
will not soon be forgotten. He never permitted an act of incorpoi'ation 
to pass througli his hands without an effort to require individual liability 
on the part of stockholders, and to resei;ve to the people, through their 
representatives, the right of amendment and repeal. 

In 1842 he was elected by the Legislature Prosecuting Attorney of the 
Ninth Judicial Circuit. - 

In 1843 he was put in nomination for Congress in a district which, 
three years previous, had given an opposition majority of more than six- 
teen hundred votes ; and after a laborious canvass succeeded in reducing 
that majority to less than three hundred. 

In December of the same year he was elected by the Legislature Presi- 
dent Judge of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, and again without opposition 
w^as re-elected, upon the expiration of his term of office in January, 1851. 
Coming to the bench fresh from a series of political conflicts of unex- 
ampled bitterness, in v>hich quarter was neither given nor demanded, he 
had to encounter prejudices of no ordinary character. The:^e have all 
been buried and long since forgotten, and at this day no man occupjying 
a similar position commands more of tlie confidence and esteem of the 
bar, and of parties litigant. 

During his term upon the bench, although many cases of great im- 
portance have been brought before him, involving the rights, liberties, 
and lives of men, there have been few cases of appeal from his decisions, 
and still fewer reversals of thorn. His earnest endeavors to administer 
strict justice, his character for unbending integrity, and his clear exposi- 



EBENEZER M. CHAMBERLAIN, OF INDIANA. 153 

tions of law, liav'e most generally satisfied contending parties of the cor- 
rectness of his decisions. 

Having been previously engaged somewhat actively in politics, imme- 
diately on his coming to the bench, Judge Chamberlain became the sub- 
ject of the most unmeasured abuse of the Whig press, and a portion of 
the party, in soma of the counties of the circuit. In view of this fact, 
at the close of the first term of his court in Laporte county, the entire 
bar in attendance at that term, sixteen in number, and without distinction 
of party, addressed to him the following note : — 

'' Lajjorte, M((rch 14, 1844. 
"Hon. E. M. Chamberlain — Dear Sir: The undersigned, members of 
the bar of the Ninth Judicial Circuit of the State of Indiana, having 
seen with regret the attacks made upon you, in the Laporte County 
Whiff of the 9th, and the Michigan City Gazette of the 11th inst., deem 
it but an act of justice to say, that since you took upon yourself the high 
and responsible duties of President Judge of this circuit, your course, as 
such judge, has been highly creditable to yourself, and satisfactory to us ; 
and that the dignified, courteous, and gentlemanly manner in which you 
have discharged those duties, evinces the capacity as well as desire to 
perform them with honor to yourself and credit to the bench. 

" With sentiments of esteem and respect we remain yours, cfec." 

The associate judges of that court, both Whigs, upon the same oc- 
casion, also addressed to him the following note : — 



Li 

bane, gentlemanly, and efficient manner in which you, sir, have discharg- 
ed the arduous and responsible duties of President Judge, and the plea- 
sure of an association with you. 

'' With cordial and unfeigned desires for your peace and prosperity, we 
subscribe ourselves, &c." 

Precisely the feelings of mutual courtesy and respect, above indicated, 
remained unabated during the nine yeai's he presided over the courts of 
that circuit. 

He has prominently participated in political matters in but two in- 
stances, since his election to the bench. In 1844 he was a delegate to 
the Democratic National Convention, was a member of the committee on 
resolutions, and as such, sought to make an issue with the opposition on 
the principles and policy of Thomas Wilson Dorr, of Rhode Island. 

In 1848 he was one of the Senatorial candidates for Presidential 
Elector, canvassed the State very generally, except in Ins own judicial 
circuit, and aided raaterially in o-ivino- the vote of the State to General 
Lewis Cass. 

He was also a candidate before the nominating caucus in 1845, for 
United States Senator, and on being defeated, made this memorable re- 
ply to all overtures still to remain a candidate : " As Democrats we must 
sustain our party for the sake of our principles, and must sustain our 
principles for the sake of our country." 



154 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

The result of Uie congressional election of 1851, in tlie lOtb district 
of Indinn.-i, much disconcerted and disheartened the Democrats of that 
district. Their candidate, Judge Borden, was defeated by a large ma- 
jority, by Mr. Brenton, the Whig candidate. By the apportionment under 
the census of 1850, the districts were so changed as to strike off several 
counties from the southern pai't of the 10th, and incorporate into it from 
the 9th the counties of Elkhart and Kosciusko, in the former of which 
Judge Chamberlain resides. On the 11th day of August, 1852, the 
time of holding the elections having also been changed, the Democratic 
Congressional Convention of the 10th district was held, at which con- 
vention Judge Chaniberlain, as the published proceedings show, " was 
unanimously nominated for Congress, by acclamation." As an index to 
the spirit of harmony and zeal by which the convention was character- 
ized and animated, we quote the following additional extract from its 
published proceedings : — 

" Mr. Chamberlain was then presented to the convention, and after the 
applause with which he was greeted had subsided, he accepted his nomi- 
nation, and returned his thanks, in a brief and eloquent address." He 
remarked, among other things, that in the then opening campaign, what- 
ever course his competitor might choose to pursue, the contest on his 
part should be purely a contest of principle ; that he would stoop to 
none of the tricks of the demagogue ; that in canvassing the district, 
he should only ask the people for their votes, and expect to receive them 
as he might succeed in commending himself to their confidence, by the cor- 
rectness of his principles, and the ability with which he advanced them. 

In the evident reconcihation of all conflicting interests amono- the De- 
mocrats of the district, by this nomination, and the entire Jiarmony 
which distinguished the proceedings of this convention, all its auguries 
indicated an auspicious result, and so it proved. Judge Chamberlain in 
due time resigned his judgeshijo, and in accordance with the customs of 
the country, entered actively into the canvass, with his characteristic 
earnestness. In all his numerous addresses to the people, in every part 
of the district, he strictly conformed to his pledges to the convention. 
He treated his competitor (Mr. Brenton, who was the Whig candidate 
for re-election) with marked courtesy and fairness ; took his stand firmly 
by the Constitution and its compromises, on the broad platform of De- 
mocratic principles and measures, not only as they are, but as they should 
be developed, under the influence of our peculiar political institutions, 
and the progressive spirit of the age ; and was elected to the 33d Con- 
gress by nearly one thoumnd majority, in a district composed of counties 
which only the year previous had, in the Congressional election, given a 
Whig majority of about three hundred. 

Did space permit, we would gladly conclude this sketch by making 
extracts from the published speeches of Judge Chamberlain. Those 
speeches are numerous and rich in passages well worthy of repetition ; 
they are filled with that ardor and energy so characteristic of the youth- 
ful but vigorous West — and equally characteristic of their author, who 
has become thoroughly identified with that section of the country. In 
his addresses to the people, Judge Chamberlain always expressed himself 
in plain, simple, but forcible language, depending more upon the vigor of 
bis thought than the elegance of his style to produce the desired im- 










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LINCOLN CLARK, OF IOWA. 155 

pression. He has ever been the advocate of reform and progress, and 
has been mainly instrumental in producing many beneficial changes in 
the laws and constitution of his adopted State. 



HON. LINCOLN CLARK, 

OF IOWA, LATE OF ALABAMA. 

The Honorable Lincoln Clark, a member of the XXXJId Congress, 
from the State of Iowa, and but recently Judge of the Circuit Court of 
Alabama, was born in Hampshire county, Massachusetts, in the year 
1800. He is the son of one of those plain New England farmers, whose 
chief pride is to gain an honest and independent livelihood for themselves 
and'families, out of the sterile soil of their native hills, literally compelling 
nature, amid a bleak and rugged region, to yield the recompense due to 
the sweat of the brow. 

The writer of this sketch has heard the subject of it remark of his 
parents, that they realized the blessings of Agur's petition, for they had 
neither poverty nor riches, and were as far removed from vanity and lies. 
Surely this is sufficient pedigree to boast of. His mother was a lineal 
descendant of the Rev. James Keith, a celebrated Scotch divine, who 
came to America in the 17th century; a man, according to tradition, 
of talents, learning, and influence. His paternal grandfather was a Cape 
Cod whaleman, who removed to Conway, the town of Mi'. Clark's nati- 
vity, in western Massachusetts, during the revolution. He there died and 
was buried, and there many of his descendants lived, died, and were 
buried after him. 

. In his youth, Mr. Clark labored at the same occupation with his father, 
and there are not many kinds of work, incident thereto, in which he did 
not engage, including the swingling of flax, making maple sugar, and 
laying stone wall. Being the oldest son, his tasks were not light, and 
when at the age of eighteen the. subject of a college education came to 
be agitated in the family, his father could ill spare from the farm so 
important an assistant ; but appi-eciating the advantages of education, he 
soon made up his mind to make the sacrifice. He was himself a man 
of much reading for his occupation, and truly coveted the blessings of 
knowledge for his children. But notwithstanding a ready consent to 
release and to aid young Lincoln, the problem as to the means still 
remained to be solved ; nor did either father or son see any way to solve 
it, save by the eye of faith. The latter embarked upon the enterprise 
pretty much as Abraham left his country, "not knowing whither he 
went." He did not, however, put out so far to sea during the two first 
years of his preparatory studies, that he could not retnrn home to assist 
his father in the busy season of summer. This he cheerfully did, as a 
matter both of economy and necessity. Up to this period, the candidate 



156 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

for college honors had shared only the common educational advantages 
of the district school of New England. 

Before our youthful student entered college, he went to the State of 
New Jersey and tausjht school nine months at Paterson. He was there 
a member of the family of the Rev. Samuel Fisher, D.D., which was in 
itself an excellent school for him. The Doctor was a man of great talents, 
extensive learning, a powerful orator, and in all respects a good model 
for a young man. Young Clark's acquaintance with this distinguished 
man was without doubt a great advantage to him, and some compensa- 
tion for the loss of time. But to be thus compelled to teach school, as 
he did every winter of his preparatory years, and the four years of his 
subsequent college course, greatly retarcled his progress. In a letter to a 
young friend on the subject of struggling against discouragements in the 
acquisition of knowledge, Mr. Clark affords us a glimpse of his own 
experiences : 

" I was twenty-one when I entered college, and twenty-five when I 
graduated. It was almost more than I could do to accomplish my 
course. During my junior year I was on the point of abandoning my 
Alma Mater, solely for the want of money, but a distant relative furnished 
me a small sum on my father's security, and afterwards more money was 
borrowed in the same way. I was thus'onabled to complete my course, 
but came out of college with a debt of $500 upon my hands." Judge 
Clark is an Alumnus of Amherst, a college located in his native county 
of Hampshii'e. 

Such was his setting out in the world, loaded with a debt of ,$500, to 
be paid as speedily as possible. His most available resource was that 
of many other young men in like circumstances, to bring his hard-earned 
education into practical use in imparting his knowledge to others. 
Judging that a southern State would afford the best encouragement, and 
having a friend in the u]>per part of North Carolina, he repaired thither, 
and was soon installed as principal of the Germanton Academy, Stokes 
county, in that State. He rehnquished this situation at the end of one 
year, and the next took a class of young gentlemen in Greek and Latin, 
meanwhile reading Blackstone, Coke, and Chitty. He had no reguhy 
instructor, but found here a friend in the Hon. Nathaniel Boyden, who 
furnished him with law books, and occasionally opened to the solitary 
student a little of their mysteries. He subsequently went to Virginia, 
where for three years he combined the •two laborious pursuits of teach- 
ing and studying law, as best he could for the advantage of himself and 
pupils. And now considering himself prepared to begin to practise his 
profession, at the end of this period he departed to the then distant 
State of Alabama, with that purpose. When he reached his destination 
he found that his expenses thither, after having paid his college indebt- 
edness, purchased a small law library, and the horse by which he travelled, 
had exhausted every dollar of his late earnings. He had the world 
before him, and he had it to begin anew. He sold his horse, and hung 
out his si[/n ! 

His prospect there was not encouraging ; month after month wore away, 
and no clients darkened his office doors. Without money, and Avithout 
patronage, a stranger in a strange land, he was, as once before in college, 
almost tempted to yield up the race in despair ! But it was hard to do 



LINCOLN CLARK, OF IOWA. 157 

this ; he resolved to succeed or die ! He made another removal ; he se- 
lected another county where less competition seemed to insure more im- 
mediate success. Pickens was then a border county, and its courthouse 
town but just laid out; the stumps were fresh in the middle of its streets, 
and there were in it but three offices which deserved the name : these 
were already occupied by other members of the legal profession, at a 
rent of live dollars per month ! How fortunate, thoui^-ht Mr. Clark, are 
those fellows who are able to pay five dollars a month for a respectable 
office ! He was obliged to take a rude log hut at two dollars ! 

" There is a tide in the affairs of men" — a summit-level, where the 
waters begin to flow two ways, or cease to flow^ against the traveller who 
is advancing upward. There is an apex to misfortune and disappoint- 
ment, above which the tears of anguish cannot rise ; and, in the lives of 
most men of the right stamp, it is when matters have cOme to about this 
point, that the tide of their aftairs takes a favorable turn. It was so 
with the subject of this sketch. He hei-e found one friend who thouoht 
he saw in him something worth cherishing; he soon found many tVi^'uds. 
He was elected Justice of the Peace, an office in Alabama of considera- 
ble fees, sufficient of itself to aftbrd him a support. He now began to 
be noticed as a lawyer, and, at the end of two years, had a fair ])ractice. 
About this time he was elected to the State Legislature, as a Jackson 
Democrat, in a canvass in which the issues were Union and JSFuUificaiion. 
One of his acts at the ensuing session was to vote to invite the Hon. 
Gabriel Moore, then United States Senator, to resign because he had be- 
come obnoxious to the Democracy of Alabama.* Mr. Clark was re-elected 
the ensuing year. 

During this session, that is, in the winter of 1834-5, an effort was 
made in the Alabama Legislature, which was largely democratic, to pre- 
sent Hugh L. White, of Tennessee, as the democratic candidate for the 
Presidency. This movement Mr. Clark strenuously opposed, on the 
ground that it was premature, and that Judge White's leanings were 
against the Democratic party. White's friends however persevered, and 
at the very next session were compelled to admit the correctness of Mr. 
Clark's course and to retrace their steps. Another act of that session 
which he took much pleasure in performing, was the opportunity to vote 
for the late lamented Vice President, the Hon. Wm. E,. Kino-, Ibr the 
Senate of the United States. It is his pleasure and good fortune to have 
been always honored with the confidence and friendship of that distin- 
guished man. 

In the year 1836 Mr. Clark, for the first time, it is believed, since his 
residence south, and after many years of absence, paid a visit to his 
father and brethren in Massachusetts. He was still a bachelor, butdui'ino- 
this visit was married to an accomplished young lady of the same neio-h- 
borhood where he was himself born and reared, who is still the })artner and 
pride of her husband, as she has been the counsellor and faithful com- 
panion of his subsequent life. 



*Tlie writer of this sketch, being of opposite politics, does not undertake to 
express liis own opinions upon this, or other political acts of his personal friend, 
Judge Clark. What he states are facts either within his own knwledge, or which . 
have become matters of history, and, as such, are leftto speak for themselves. 



158 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS, 

On returning to the South, he was invited by the Hon. E. Woolsey Peck 
of Tuscaloosa, the then seat of government of Alabama, to a copart- 
nership with him, which he accepted, and with whom he continued ten 
years, enjoying a lucrative and honorable practice. In Chancellor Peck 
lie found a partner of the very highest order of talents, and profound 
legal learning ; a friend whose kind regard has never abated. To accept 
this copartnership it was necessary for him to remove to the State capi- 
tal, having resided in the county of Pickens about four years. Describ- 
ing his residence there, he says : 

"I saw much of the strife, riot and bloodshed which often prevail in 
frontier localities. I saw men shot and wounded — men shot and killed. 
Convictions for murder could not then be had, but there is a better state 
of things now." 

In 1839 Mr. Clark received from Governor Bagby the appointment 
of Attorney General of the State of Alabama. In 1845 Governor Fitz- 
patrick (now United States Senator) conferred upon him, without solicit- 
ation, the office of Judge of the Circuit Court of that State. To accept 
this appointment, he resigned his seat in the House of Representatives, to 
which he had been just elected for Tuscaloosa by a respectable majority, 
although a Whig county. His labors that summer were of the most 
arduous nature. During the brief space of six weeks he was required to 
canvass for the Legislature, and also attend to a large practice in the Su- 
preme and Chanceiy courts. 

In the spring of 1846, Judge Clark was urged by his political friends 
to permit his name to be used in the Democratic Convention of the 
Fourth Congressional District, as a candidate for Congress — a district 
where such a nomination was equivalent to an election. He did not 
consent, but was balloted for against his consent, and frequently received 
a majoriUf of the votes cast, two thirds being required to nominate. The 
county of Fayette, the residence of the present member, and the strongest 
Democratic county in that district, was not represented in the conven- 
tion. The leading Democrats of Fayette, for reasons not necessary to be 
here disclosed, would not send a delegation, unless Judge Clark would 
consent to become a candidate. Had Fayette been represented, he would 
have been nominated by the requisite two thirds upon the first ballot. 

For some time previous to 1846, Judge Clark had been seriously con- 
templating a removal and settlement upon the Mississippi river, that 
great commercial artery of the country. This design was hastened by 
the removal of the seat of government from Tuscaloosa, the city of his 
residence, to Montgomery, on the Alabama river — a removal which took 
with it the most important courts, thus materially decreasing the busi- 
ness of the profession, and affecting the general importance and interests 
of the place. Deeming this to be a fit time for him to carry out his 
intention of establishing himself upon the " great father of waters," after 
a tour of exploration, Mr, Clark, in 1847, removed to the Northwest, 
and located himself at Dubuque, a fiourishing city of Iowa. 

There, in the young State of his adoption, it was not long before honors 
began to crowd thick upon him. The very next year, the presidential 
election coming on, the Judge was put upon the Democratic ticket as 
elector, and canvassed the State for " Cass and Butler." Iowa having 
cast her vote for these gentlemen, he was selected by his electoral col- 



LINCOLN CLARK, OF lOAVA, 159 

ieagues to carry the vote to Washington. During tliis canvass tlie 
question of political abolitionism had to be met. Judge Clark attacked 
it as heretical and mischievous ; it tottered to its fall, and has not since 
troubled L^wa elections. 

In 1850, Judge Clark was nominated for Concrress without the slio-htest 
knowledge that such a thing was in contemplation, and was electdi by a 
majority of 1000 — more than double the majority ever before given to 
any of his predecessors in that district. Having served through this 
(32d) Congress with honor and credit, he was re-nominated in 1852 by 
the regular convention of his party. The nomination was not unanimous. 
For the first time in his life, having never been a seeker of office — all his 
honors hitherto having been thrust upon him rathei- than souo-ht — oiu- 
friend found himself in the awkward dilemma of belona,-inof to a house 
divided against itself. Tlie division was of a local character — that most 
fatal of all political distractions. He received the majority in the con- 
vention by a strictly local vote. No less than four railroad schemes had 
been projected in the district, each in antagonism to the other ; jealousy 
and rivalry ensued, and defeat was the consequence. The subject of 
railroads became the chief element of the canvass, from the desire to ob- 
tain for the rival schemes grants of land from the general ffovernment. 

Having, for the most part, confined this sketch to a simple narration of 
the prominent incidents in the life of the subject thereof, we leave them 
to speak for themselves. The narrative might have swelled jnto a vol- 
ume, but the writer preferred to present a connected chain of facts with- 
out comment or embellishment. We have seen him strua-oflino- on 
through all the gradations of toil as a boy-student, then a schoolmaster, 
next a college student and pedagogue alternately — a graduate, still teach- 
ing to pay oft' that #500 debt, studying law ad interim, and next with 
his sign out ! Now intervenes a dark hour of despair, away in distant 
Alabama, at the age of thirty, still battling with poverty, and the battle 
has been a terrible one ! 

Lo ! a bright spot in the sky ! — " One friend !" — other friends — is 
elected Justice of tlie Peace ! — What a God-send ! Then, in quick suc- 
cession, come elections to the Legislature — business — co-partnership — 
marriage to a beautiful, lovely, and accomplished young lady— Attorney- 
Generalship — Judgeship — Electorship— oratorical honors, and election to 
Congress. Let such a beginning and ending speak for themselves ! 

Judge Clai'k's manner of speaking is grave, dignified, and impressive. 
He is a serious-minded, and we may add, a religious man. He has for 
jnany years been a professor of Christianity, and while he is a scrupulous 
observer of the forms, and a sincere believer in the tenets of his church, 
lie is liberal and tolerant to all. There is a tendency to scriptural illus- 
trations and quotations in his public addresses and speeches, and an apt- 
ness therein which sometimes almost smacks of the clerical. No man 
has less of cant or hypocrisy, and if a familiarity with the best of books 
enables him to illustrate and enforce great truths, he is not the first 
American orator whose productions have been enriched from the same 
source. It shows the timber he is made of, the sober New England 
origin grafted upon the old Scotch ancestry — an origin and ancestry not 
the' worst in the world. 

Judge Clark is not a professed politician ; he has devoted but a small 



IGO SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

portion of liis life to politics. That office has sought Am, rather than he 
it^ has been seen ; when it has coine in his way, he has considered it 
well enough to accept it, whenever he could without any sacrifice of his 
principles or too much sacrifice of his interests. He has made his poli- 
tical aspirations subservient to his professional standing and character 
as a lawyer. The law is his forte, what the sti'uggle of his life has been 
to cherish, follow, and master, and upon which to found a reputation. 

As a lawyer, Judge Clai'k is not so remarkable for great readiness, as 
for correctness and soundness. He is an honest and safe counsellor, an 
eloquent and powerful advocate. One of his maxims for his law students 
is, "Never advise a suit vou ought not, or cannot gain." No lawver 
ever practised the profession more conscientiously, or felt deeper anxiety 
for the interests of his clients, and few have been more successful in gain- 
ing causes for a series of years, in a responsible and laborious practice. 

As a man, a neighbor, or a member of society, Mr. Clark is full of 
kindliness and charities. He is a man for counsel for those in need of 
friendly advice, to be sought by such as need ]5rotection, to be supplicated 
by those needing alms — these will not go empty away. His kindness 
and urbanity towards young members of the bar, contrast strikingly 
with the crabbedness of some old practitioners, who keep up their dig- 
nity and importance by a frowning brow and sour aspect towards 
"juniors." Mindful, perhaps, of his own early struggles and trials, and 
prompted by a kind and benevolent heart, the subject of this sketch de- 
lights to tiTlve the novice by the hand, and to aid him in various ways — 
by gratuitous counsel, by an encouraging word, by inducting him into 
one of his own cases, and helping him onward in a maiden speech with 
points of law. 

Upon his return from Washington, at the close of the thirty-second 
Congress, Judge Clark resumed the practice of his profession, to whicb 
he is devotedly attached, and which he still pursues with zeal and energy 
unabated, and as is believed with the success of former years when he 
was the familiar acquaintance of the writer of this sketch. 



HENRY C. WALKER 



OF MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, 



Is a native of Virginia, and the third son of Colonel James Walker, 
of Buckingham county, Virginia, who died in the year 1828, while 
Henry was at school. He was considered a wealthy planter, and his 
children were reared in the belief that they would inheiit a fortune. 
The estate was nearly absorbed to p^y the debts, and the minor child- 
ren were deprived of advantages in education bestowed on the older. 
Henry, through the efforts of his oldest brother, then in Tennessee, re- 
ceived the appointment of Cadet at West Point, in the year 1830. As 



EDWIN FARRAR, OF VIRGINIA. 161 ■ 

he was the oldest son then with His mother, in Virginia, he was induced 
by her, rehictantly, to decline it. In 1832 his mother and family re- 
moved to Tennessee. In 1833 he entered as a merchant's clerk in 
Murfreesboro, Tennessee. In 1835 he was elected assistant clerk of the 
House of Representatives, over the old incumbent of the ofHce. In April, 
1836, he was elected a clerk in the Union Bank of Tennessee, at Nash- 
ville. In the fall of the same year he was promoted to the office of 
teller of said bank, which he held until May, 1843, when he was elected 
Cashier of the Union Bank of Tennessee, at Memphis. The deranged 
afl'airs of the bank requiring constant application and great labor, im- 
paired his health to such an extent that he was compelled, in 1846, by 
the advice of his physician, to go to Havana, and thence to the south of 
France and Italy. In the fall of 1847 he returned home, restored to 
health, and resumed his duties as cashier. He held the office until 
August of 1850, when he resigned, and became a partner of the house 
of S. O. Nelson & Co., cotton factors and commission merchants of New 
Orleans, of which house he is now a member. 

Since the commencement of his business life, his industry and appli- 
cation to business have secured to him many friends in his adopted State, 
and marked out for him success in all his undertakings. 



EDWIN FARRAR 



A LIKENESS of whom accompanies this sketch, was born on the 4th day 
of September, 1806, in the county of Chesterfield, in the State of Vir- 
ginia. His father, Peter Field Farrar, was the son of John Farrar, of the 
county of Chesterfield. His mother, Susan Tompkins, was the daughter 
of Col. Christopher Tompkins (of the county of King William, in the 
State of Virginia), who figured with distinction at the siege of Yorktown, 
and was a colonel in the regular service of the United States. 

Edwin Farrar, the subject of this sketch, displayed in early youth a 
quickness of apprehension, a ready business tact, and an indefatigable 
energy of will, with a sterling moral worth, which promised a life of use- 
fulness and honorable exertion, in whatever pursuit he might elect to fol- 
low. His education was limited, yet he ever displayed a reverence for 
the wisdom, virtue, and learning of " the fathers of the Republic." His 
mind was quick to apprehend, as his heart was ready to respond to 
the examples presented in the lives of the good and enlightened men 
around him. A Virginian by birth, he was essentially a Virginia gentle- 
man in every impulse of his heart. With a keen sense of honor, and a 
natural repugnance to every species of deceit or duplicity, he cherished 
the honor of his State next to that of his own family. 

Commencing life with such principles as these, and with an energy of 

VOL. IV. 11 



162 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

purpose rarely surpassed, his prospects -were bright and his success sure. 
He selected, at an early period of youth, a commercial life as his choice, 
and while yet quite young entered one of the first houses in Richmond. 
He soon disjjlayed the sterling qualities of his head and heart, and rapidly 
rose in the estimation of his employers and business acquaintances. In 
a few years he set up for himself, and rapidly secured, by his energy and 
fidelity, the confidence and esteem of his fellow-citizens. 

He married Martha Ann Lewis (daughter of Francis Lewis, of Henrico 
county, Virginia, and granddaughter of old Madam Lewis, of Marion Hill, 
Henrico county) on the 28th March, 1832. Blessed with the confidence 
and love of so beautiful and accomplished a wife, he redoubled his ener- 
gies, and followed the calling of his choice with great success until the 
pecuniary revulsion in 1837, which ruined so many fortunes and disap- 
pointed so many hopes. The unprecedented reverses of that year greatly 
deranged his business, and materially retarded his success. Nothing 
daunted, he was equal to every call upon his energies, and withstood the 
"tide of ill success" with a fortitude equal to the occasion. 

From his earliest }^oulh he was a supporter of the most liberal system 
of internal improvements, popular education, and home development. 
He was ever a true republican. When the Whig party was foimed, he 
espoused its cause, and rallied in support of its great founder and leader 
with a zeal which never abated, and a devotion which never weakened. 
At all times, under all circumstances, his purse was open as his heart was 
wedded to the service of the i^arty on the success of which he believed 
the prosperity of the country depended. Li this particular he eminently 
displayed the integrity of his nature, and the inflexibility of his purpose, 
when under a deliberate conviction of duty. No reverse of fortune, no 
defeat, however severe, could ever dampen his ardor or abate his zeal. 
He rallied to each successive contest with a resolution equal to every 
exertion, yet tempered by an urbanity of manner and softened by a social 
regard for his friends of the opposing party, which endeared him to all 
who knew him. He is now what he has ever been, a true Whig, a high- 
toned republican, and a most worthy gentleman — not the less useful be- 
cause he is in the private walks of life. 

For several years he has been elected an alderman in the city of Rich- 
mond, Virginia. On the bench he has ever maintained the same high 
character for integrity and firmness which he displayed in the private 
walks of life. A rigid and inflexible impartiality, a stern and unyielding 
sense of duty, and an imperturbable sense of justice, with a quick appre- 
hension and a well arranged and self-poised judgment, he analyses with 
ease and decides with promptitude alike the law and evidence in the 
cases before him ; while he ever displays on the bench the equanimity 
of temper and suavity of manner which characterize his private inteucourse 
with his fellow-citizens. 

This sketch might well be extended, and innumerable incidents in the 
life of Mr. Farrar given in detail, which would illustrate what we have 
already said of him. But this is needless. We write rather to sketch 
the main outlines of his character and give the general tenor of his life, 
than to furnish in detail the incidents of a life as useful as it is private, 
and honorable as it has been and is unostentatious. As a man, a mer- 
chant, a patriot, .a justice, and a private citizen, Mr. Farrar has exemplified 



EDMUND FONTAINE, OF VIRGINIA. 163 

in life the promise of his youth, and is now the respected and esteemed 
gentleman, with energies unsubdued, and with a life of usefulness before 
him. 

We may add, that John Farrar, the grandfather of the subject of this 
sketch, married Rebecca Wathen, who was the granddaughter of 
Charles Hudson of the county of Hanover. George Hudson, the brother 
of Charles, was the grandfother of Henry Clay. These two brothers 
married the two Miss Jennings, who, it is believed, are the regular de- 
scendants in line, and right heiis to the great Jennings estate of seventy- 
two millions of dollars, in England. This estate, which has attracted so 
much general attention, and has been so long locked up in chancery, 
may yet be distributed, through the descendants of Charles and George 
Hudson, to citizens of the United States, and a goodly portion would 
go to the subject of this brief memoir and his brothers and sisters, who 
are, Chastain, John, Robert, Dr. Joseph C, Susan Ann, Catharine, 
and Mai'tha E. Farrar. 



EDMUND FONTAINE, 

OF RICHMOND, PRESIDENT OF THE VIRGINIA CENTRAL RAILROAD COM- 
PANY. 

If History be " philosophy teaching by example," Biography should 
belong to the department of experimental philosophy ; for whilst the former 
commends itself to us by its great truths and its general lessons of civil 
and political wisdom, the latter presents us with the record of the practi- 
cal life and the personal experience of those whose actions form the sub- 
ject of our contemplation. In this point of view, biography affords us 
the experimental results of principles and rules in action — brings us into 
closer contact with the thoughts and character of those whose talents, in- 
tegrity and enterprise have exerted a marked influence on society, and 
become to the young and emulous, who may come after them, at once 
an incentive and a guide to that goal " where Fame's pround temple shines 
afer." 

It is a just occasion of felicitation to every American citizen to reflect 
that in no other country are there to be found so many examples of 
men who, by solid merit, have won their way to a high place in the 
general esteem and confidence, as in his own favored land. This result 
is due in a great degree to the admirable political institutions transmitted 
to us from our sagacious and patriotic forefathers. It should be admit- 
ted, however, that much is due also to the influence of circumstances con- 
nected with the early ancestral history of the families and races which peo- 
pled this western continent in the beginning. Who can fail to disceris 
in the peculiarities which distinguish the various inhabitants of this great 
country (comprehended, for want of a better, under the general but non-dis- 
tinctive name of Americans), the strong features, and the prominent na- 



164 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

tional traits that belong to us, as descendants of English, Scotch, Irish, 
French, and German parents ? The names are not less significant of the 
peculiar, mosaic origin of the "Universal Yankee Nation," than the na- 
ture we inherit from our respective ancestral stock, and these appellatives 
become, not unfrequenth', the key to the comprehension of the distinctive 
qualities which mark their possessor in the particular department of life 
to which he may be devoted. An illustration of these observations is 
furnished in a remarkable degree by the personal as well as family his- 
tory and character of the subject of this imperfect sketch. 

Edmund Fontaine, a native of Hanover county, Virginia, was born 
January 20th, 1801. He is, as his name imports, of French extraction — 
being a descendant of the Huguenots, of one of those Protestant refu- 
gees whose cruel sufferings and persecution for conscience' sake, endured 
with undaunted and heroic fortitude, form one of the most thrilling and 
romantic episodes ever recorded on the page of history. His own family 
especially, from the days of their great founder, Jaques de la Fontaine, 
in 1535, seem to have been visited by a larger measure of Popish in- 
tolerance and ferocity than fell to the lot of others. On the revocation 
of the Edict of Nantes, October 22, 1685, James Fontaine, one of his 
sons, then a Protestant pastor in France, who had previously been sub- 
jected to a long imprisonment and confiscation of his estates, as the price 
of his fidelity to the stern claims of conscience and duty, fled from his 
native country, and with many other exiled pilgrims, took refuge from 
the bloody persecution of Louis XIV. in England. Ha\ang encountered 
many hardships^ and misfortunes in England, and afterwards in Ireland, 
several of his sons and one of his daughters, Mrs. Maury, with her hus- 
band, Matthew Maury, emigrated to the colony of Virginia, and about 
the year 1720 settled in the counties of Lunenburg, King William, 
Louisa, and Hanover. From one of these, Peter, descended William Fon- 
taine, the father of the subject of this memoir. Col. William Fontaine was 
an officer in the revolutionary army, and participated with distinction in the 
capture of Yorktown, and the suri'ender of Cornwallis and his army on 
that memorable occasion. It is only a few years ago, that Wm. 0. Rives, 
Esq., then a Senator in Congress from Virginia, and more recently the 
American minister at the court of France, enriched the valuable archives 
of the Virginia Historical Society by the presentation to them of an ori- 
ginal letter from Col. Wm, Fontaine (which had been fortunately pre- 
served among the family records), dated October 26, I'ZSl, less than one 
week after the event, detaiHng in glowing and patriotic terms the particu- 
lars of the surrender of York.'" 

The descendant, in the paternal line, of the Huguenot pilgrim and the 
Revolutionary patriot, Col. Fontaine's maternal ancestry were scarcely 
less favorable to the transmission and development of those hereditary 
qualities, which he has illustrated in his less conspicuous, but useful and 



* These particulars are gleaned from a spii'ited and interesting Avorli just is- 
sued from the press of Putnam & Co., entitled "Memoirs of a Huguenot Fami- 
ly, translated and complied from the original autobiography of the Rev. James 
Fontaine, by Ann Maurj^," herself a descendant of the distinguished familj' whose 
memoirs she has gracefully edited. 



EDMUND FONTAINE, OF VIRGINIA. 165 

honorable career. His mother, Mrs. Ann Fontaine, was the daughter of 
WilHara Morris of Hanover, and the sister of Richard Morris of the same 
county — an eminent hiwyer and statesman, whose high reputation for 
talents, social virtue, and chivalrous honor is familiarly known through- 
out Virginia. 

This little sketch of the family antecedents of Col. Fontaine is not 
drawn with any view of inviting the attention of the public to any con- 
sideration he may be supposed to claim from a noble ancestry. No one 
would condemn more severely than himself so unworthy an object; in- 
asmuch as no one more fully appreciates the wisdom of our republican 
system, and the simplicity of republican manners which makes merit, not 
family distinctions, the only criterion of public consideration and respect. 
It is to exhibit the spirit of manly freedom, the love of liberty, and the 
bold independence of his early progenitors, not the nobility of their de- 
scent, that these facts are useful and worthy of recital. 

Reared in habits of sobriety and industry, and inheriting a small pa- 
trimony, Edmund Fontaine devoted himself with diligence and perse- 
verance to the pursuits of agriculture, and soon exhibited to his neighbors 
and countrymen the fruits of a mature judgment in the system, e^iergy, 
and thrift which distinguished his management. In Virginia he has 
been well known as a successful farmer, and has ever been i-eady and 
prompt to give every impulse in his power to progress and improvement 
in the beneficent work of husbandry. This earnest and active spirit of 
enterprise early attracted the attention of his countrymen, and led to his be- 
ing called from his avocations as a farmer to a more enlarged theatre of 
action. In 1834 he was nominated by a convention and was elected to 
represent the senatorial district composed of the counties of Hanover, 
Louisa, Fluvanna and Goochland, in the Legislature of Virginia, beating, 
by a handsome majority, a most estimable gentleman, the" late Horatio 
Gates Winston, who had been the late incumbent and was candidate for 
re-election. 

At the expiration of his term, his re-election was opposed in an active 
canvass by I)r. Joseph M. Shephard of Hanover, but he was again elected 
by his confiding constituents. During this term, Col. Fontaine, who had 
been a decided and active member of the Democratic party, felt con- 
strained by a high sense of public duty to oppose the administration of 
Mr. Van Buren. His course on this occasion, and his affiliation with the 
conservative party of that day, brought down upon him the thunders of 
the party press, and the bitter hostility of some of his late political allies. 
Great excitement prevailed, and threats of indignant instructions from the 
constituent body were freely used as a means of intimidation. The in- 
trepid firmness of Col. Fontaine was proof against all such menaces. He 
did not falter for a moment in his course. His opponents made the eftbrt 
to get up instructions to him, in accordance with the Virginia doctrines, 
to support the administration or to resign his place. The attempt was, 
however, a signal failure, and the Senator was thus left free to follow the 
direction of his own judgment and discretion. At the end of this second 
term, he retired from the Senate to the more quiet and congenial em- 
ployment of domestic and agricultural life. He had pre\iously been 
married at the age of twenty-four to Maria Louisa Shackleford — a lady 
whose personal attractions, united to her aniiable disposition and culti- 



166 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

vated intellect, rendered their union a constant source of domestic tran- 
quillity and happiness. Under such benign home influences, Col. Fon- 
taine has been blessed with a numerous offspring, whose training and edu- 
cation he has directed with the most anxious and assiduous care. 

It was duriuo; his service in the State Senate that Colonel Fontaine 
was called on, as the representative of his district, to take an active inte- 
rest in the affairs of the then Louha, and now Virginia Central Railroad 
Company, with whose fortunes he has ever since been closely identified. 
Having taken the leading part in the passage of a law for the construc- 
tion of this road from a point on the Richmond and Potomac railroad, 
in the direction of Harrisonburg, in the valley of Virginia, Colonel Fon- 
taine was appointed by the Board of Public Works the proxy to represent 
the interest of three fifths of the stock then held by the State in that 
work. Soon after the road was completed to Gordonsville, in Orange 
county, he was appointed a delegate to a convention held at Harrison- 
burg, the object of which w-as to devise means to bring the road across 
the mountains to that point. It was on this occasion that the enterprise 
and forecast of Colonel Fontaine were strikingly displayed in the propo- 
sition he brought forward, for the first time, to extend this road to the 
Ohio river. At that early day, in the infancy of such enterprises in 
Virginia, the bare idea of reaching the Ohio thi'ough or over the moun- 
tain barriers of Virginia was denounced as chimerical, and it required a 
man of some nerve to expose himself to the jeers and reproaches with 
which such a pi'oposal would be greeted. 

The energy, zeal, and intelligence with which Colonel Fontaine sus- 
tained the claims and the capability of this little Louisa road, as it was 
then regarded, to be the great western pioneer in bringing to the Atlan- 
tic seaboard the heavy trade and travel of the Mississippi and Ohio 
valleys, and the boldness and vigor with which he pressed his views, 
united to his known business habits and qualifications, soon pointed him 
out to the public and to the stockholders as the safest and wisest guar- 
dian to whom its rising fortunes could be confided. Accordingly, in the 
year 1845, he was elected the President of the company. 

The first measure in reference to which he was called on to act afforded 
an occasion to display his fitness for the station to Avhich he had been 
called. 

The question was submitted to the stockholders, at their first meeting 
after his election, whether the road should continue to be a mere feeder 
to the Richmond and Potomac road, or, by assuming its proper rank as 
an independent work, become one of the great lines of national com- 
merce and importance. At this time, the Richmond road was actually 
doing the transportation of the Louisa — furnishing their own cars and 
engines, running at such hours as to suit their own convenience or ca- 
price, and paying to the Louisa company a fixed sum by way of remu- 
neration, for the surrender to them of the valuable trade and travel over 
their road. Colonel Fontaine resolved to break up this miserable depend- 
ence — to shake off this grasping monopoly of the resources of his own 
road, which preyed like a vampyre on the vitals of his little bantling. 
It was, however, no easy task. The annual stipend derived from the 
Richmond road paid a dividend to the Louisa stockholdei's. This might 
be endangered, and a large party among the stockholders loudly insisted 



EDMUND FONTAINE, OF VIRGINIA. 167 

that the connection should continue, and that the perilous experiment of 
i^ustaining an independent existence should not be hazarded. Such ar- 
guments, it may well be conceived, possessed no weight in the eyes of 
one whose fathers had always preferred independence in honorable 
poverty to the most successful affluence at the unworthy sacrifice of prin- 
ciple an<l the spirit of liberty. Amid much excitement and warm but 
ineffectual opposition, he succeeded in convincing the stockholders that 
honoi-able independence was no less politic than riglit. From that day 
this little local road received an impulse which "has steadily uro-ed it 
onward in the path of prosperity and success. Following up this separa- 
tion by a subsecpient and more efiectual emancipation of all control of, 
and connection with its early and envious neighbor, by the construction 
of an independent road to Richmond, crossing'the Richmond and North- 
ern road at the junction, the old Louisa road, now known to fame as 
the Virginia Central Railroad, has become, under the fostering and 
careful management of President Fontaine, emphatically the leading 
road of the State, stretching itself fur beyond its first mountain barrier, 
and now under contract by its connections with the Blue Ridge and the 
Covington and Ohio railroads, to the long wished for waters of the Ohio 
river. 

This result has not been attained without great exertions and the most 
untiring perseverance on the part of the president and directors. On 
President Fontaine especially and almost exchisivelv devolved the heavy 
task of sustaining the road, under many adverse circumstances. Having 
procured a naked charter from the Legislature for the extension by an 
independent road to Richmond, against heavy opposition, he set about 
the difficult task of raising the necessary funds to build the road. In 
this enterprise he encountered peculiar difficulties from the timid, the 
lukewarm, and the disaffected in his own company, and especially from 
the ceaseless hostility to the whole scheme on the part of his old rivals, 
the Richmond and Potomac company, who complained of the infringe- 
ment of tlieir monopoly, of the violation of their chartered privileges, and 
even invoked the interposition of the judiciary of both the State and 
Federal authority, to stop the construction of the work. Resolute in his 
}nirpose, and sustained by the generous confidence of a majority of the 
stockholdei's. Colonel Fontaine was not to be driven for a moment from 
the prosecution of the object he had undertaken. Perhaps the most 
formidable shape assumed by the opposition at this crisis, consisted in the 
.steady and systematic attempt to discredit the financial ability of the 
company, to exaggerate its liabilities, and thus to destroy its credit in the 
market. 

Reckless and ungenerous as was this species of opposition, it served 
only to call forth fresh energy and to display a bolder determination on 
the part of the president of the company. The actual subscription to the 
new stock to construct this section of the road of some twenty-five miles, 
reached only the inadequate sum of $38,000. Nothing daunted by such 
discouragements, and resolved to accomplish a work which he knew 
would enhance the value of the stock and infuse new life into the road, 
with real generosity he did not hesitate to pledge his own private re- 
sources in aid of the entei'prise, and thus sustain the assailed credit of the 
company; after appropriating the entire sales of his crops to supply 



168 SKETCHKS OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

deficiencies in the company's fund. With some of his collea^ios in the 
board of directors, he endorsed the company's paper to a heavy amount, 
at a time when its finances were low, and when, without such aid, the 
most serious embarrassments would have ensued. Such zeal, public 
spirit, and indefatigable energy, soon told in the rising prominence and 
prosperity of this company. When called to the presidency, he found 
the road a mere local highway, extending from the junction in Hanover 
to Gordonsville, in Orange county, a distance of fifty miles. As a na- 
tural result of its limited business, its obscure position, and especially its 
ruinous dependence for its transportation on another company, to which 
it had become a mere tender, its stock of the original value of lilOO had 
fallen to about $20 in the market, and many of the stockholders had 
ceased to take any active interest in its fortunes. Under the auspices of 
Colonel Fontaine, and deriving an invigorating vitality from his ener- 
getic administration, the whole aspect of its affairs is changed. Charters 
have been granted for its extension to the waters of the Ohio, in which 
the State has liberally and wisely embarked her own money to the extent 
of three fifths of the entire capital of near four millions of dollars. Its stock 
has rapidly advanced in the market to an honorable competition with the 
most profitable roads in the State, and it is now generally admitted that 
the most speedy, certain, and practicable connection of the Atlantic sea- 
board Avith the Ohio river is to be effected by the Virginia Central Rail- 
road, when united with the State's tributary lines already referred to. 
Indeed, if we regard the great Atlantic and Pacific railway as already 
decreed, there is every reason to believe that the Central railroad must 
constitute the Virginia link in that great chain which is to bind together 
our American Union in the stronsx bands of mutual commerce and 
association, unite by a direct line the shores of the two oceans, open the 
illimitable fields of oriental trade to our enterprise, and in time, by our 
steam connections with the Sandwich and South Pacific islands and the 
Chinese Empire, encircle the earth itself with a blight and unbroken 
girdle, diff'using in its track the intelligence, the wealth, the refinement, 
and civilization of the age and conntry in which we live. 

That these ulterior advantages and this imposing mission of the railroad 
with which he has been so closely identified, seem not to have escaped 
the just anticipations of President Fontaine, is manifest from the manner 
in which he recites its objects and capabilities in the last annual report 
which, under date of October 29th, 1852, he made to the stockholders. 
He says : " With reference to the transportation of the heavy productions 
of the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi, it will thus be seen that the 
James River canal, and the railroad from its terminus to the Ohio, present 
a line for its directness, the mild temperature of its location, and its ge- 
neral capacity for cheapness of transportation, unequalled by any which 

aims at connecting the West with the Atlantic coast A glance at 

the map of the United States is enough to shcfw that the great outlet for 
Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Tennessee ought to be through Virginia to 
the Atlantic ; and the movements recently made and being made by these 
States in the work of improvement and intercommunication, have demon- 
strated most clearly, not only that the central railroad line through Vir- 
ginia is called for as a great medium of trade and travel, but that when 
made it must be a source of great profit from the investment." 



FRANCIS HAROLD DUFFEE, OF PENNSYLVANIA. 169 

In person Col. Fontaine is of about the usual stature. He lias the 
rather slight figure, the delicate features, blonde complexion, light hair, 
quick movements, and mild blue eyes which are usually characteristic of 
the Huguenot refugees. His manners are affable, frank, and cordial. 
Personal firmness, quick sagacity, and uncommon energy of purpose are^ 
plainly marked in his countenance and bearing. He has proved himself 
on more than one occasion no unequal match for some of the ablest and 
most skilful debaters in Virginia, whom it has been his fortune to encoun- 
ter in the political as well as the internal improvement confiicts in which 
lie has been called to engage. It is this conviction of his valuable prac- 
tical talents, derived from thorough attention to his previous career, that 
drew from one of the most sagacious and prominent men in Virginia, 
himself a political opponent, a strong and emphatic rebuke of the sugges- 
tion that Col. Fontaine, under the new regime of the Board of Public 
Works in Virginia, would probably be ostracized for some party favorite. 
He said with emjjhasis : " Never-never ! He has rendered too much ser- 
vice to the State, he has too much energy, perseverance, and practical good 
sense, for his services to be dispensed with. He has fought his way through 
the gibes and ridicule of enemies and lukewarm friends, and has forced him- 
self and his road to be respected. Such a man as that caiiH he put down.'" 



FRANCIS HAROLD DUFFEE, 

MEMBER OF THE SELECT COUNCIL OF PHILADELPHIA. 

It has been truthfully averred that the most difficult of all literary 
tasks, is to write an unexceptionable memoir of a living man. If the 
life is worth the record, there is always danger of offending that delicacy 
which is inseparable from merit ; for even moderate praise, which may 
meet the eyes of its subject, is apt to be fulsome, while a nice sense of 
propriety would not be the less wounded by a dry abstract which should 
contain nothing but names and dates. Notwithstanding this seeming di- 
lemma, we hold, however, to the opinion that there is much salutary infor- 
mation to be gleaned from the memoirs of those who may be emphati- 
cally termed self-made men — and hence it is that the various incidents of 
their lives frequently form so pleasing as well as monitory an influence. 
Of such a class is" the subject of our present sketch, and although he 
has hitherto deservedly appeared in print as a " City Notable," and re- 
ceived high encomiums from another quarter as one confessedly of fine 
literary abilities, we purpose furnishing an entirely new sketch, blend- 
ing a description of him botli in an intellectual and business point^ of 
view, so as to embrace the distinguishing features of character which 
have rendered him worthy of being considered as an accomphshed and 
useful citizen. 

Francis Harold Duffee was born in the city of Philadelphia, on the 



1*70 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

9th day of October, 1813. The occupation of his father we are unac- 
quainted with, but we know he was not rich, notwithstanding he gave 
his two sons a most hberal education, thus fitting them for the higher 
walks of life. His good intentions were not unrewarded, for Francis has 
gained himself a distinguished social and literary position ; and his 
brother, as a surgeon, has done sufficient to make his name associated 
with honor both in medical and sciientific circles. Mr. Duffee was, we 
believe, originally intended for the counting-house, in which he was 
placed at an early age. But amid the summing up of long accounts and 
the wearisome investigation of ledgers and day books, he first gave in- 
dications of his fine literary powers. He set to work and produced seve- 
ral domestic dramas, which attracted the attention and charmed the fancy 
of some youthful Thespians, who had them immediately produced at one 
of their minor dramatic establishments. A now celebrated actor, who was 
an amateur at the time of their representations, has informed us that they 
made a most decisive hit, and that in the green-room gossip there were 
frequent speculations in regard to the author's future success as a play 
writer.'^" Mr. Duftee's next step in the classic but thorny path of litera- 
ture was to give vent to his poetic efl'usions through the columns of the 
" American Sentinel." At this period it was not every man who could be 
" connected with the press." The men who had control of the columns 
could read and understand, if they could not write good poetry ; and a 
piece, to insure insertion, must at least possess merit. Now things have 
changed, and we really believe there are as many poets and authors as 
there are doctors and lawyers. But we cannot touch these things now ; 
all we have to do is to attend to Mr. Duftee. His poems were, to say 
the least of them, good if not great, and always received the sanction of 
the public and the approbation of those who indulged in reading the in- 
spiration of others. 

The following we clip from an old paper, which we give by way of 
justification for our remarks : — 



LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP. 

Like dew-drops to the opening flower 

Is friendship to the soul ; 
Our bosoms feel its chastening power, 

And own its sweet control. 



But love is like the morning's beam 
O'er beds of roses early stealing; 

It wakens fancy's earliest dream, 
And warms to life each dormant feeling. 



When reft of fortune's sunny smiles, 
We turn to friendship for relief; 

'Tis this that every woe beguiles, 
And calms the acliing throbs of grief. 



* See " Dramatic Authors of America." 



FRANCIS HAROLD DUFFEE, OF PENNSYLVANIA. l7l 

But love ! let that entwine our hearts, 

Its golden Unks time cannot sever; 
Friendship's fond smile sometimes departs, 

But fervent love, it changeth never. 

After our author became somewhat known to thv^ public by means of 
his articles in the " Sentinel," lie commenced to contribute to other papers, 
that professed to be the leading ones of the country. The " Saturday 
Evenino- Post" got its share of his articles, as did the " Mechanic's Free 
Press.""^ Mr. Dufiee was an industrious young writer, and brought forth 
his articles in quick succession, although not sufficiently fast as some of 
the publishers would have liked. While engaged in contributing to the 
" Free Press," he got into a newspaper difficulty with some gentlemen 
who seemed to be alarmed at his success. This only appeared to stimu- 
late him ; he went to work in earnest, replied to his opponents in a gen- 
teel manner which silenced them, and made new friends who have since 
turned out to be true ones. 

Shortly after this Mr. Duffee engaged to furnish the publisher ot the 
"American Pioneer" with a series "of Indian sketches, a task for which 
he was fully qualified, both by reason of his experience and fancy. They 
made an excitement as soon as they appeared, as the books of the paper 
can most fully and explicitly testify. One of them, the " Pequod Maid, 
we have read time and again with exquisite pleasure ; had we a copy ot 
it we would gladly make extracts. "The Rival Chiets," " The Eagle 
Plume," " The^Last of his Tribe," and a number of others make up the 
series. ' They showed a lively imaginative power and a close observation 
to be their author's portion. They appeared without any name to them, 
however, and on that account some were adopted by a literary gentleman 
who, not having much originahty of his own, prized himself on^hisgood 
taste. The cheat was discovered, however, by some of the author's friends, 
who stripped the literary magpie of his stolen plumes, and gave them 
to their owner. We understand that our author has no copy of his 
sketches, but has scattered them like sybilline leaves to the future, whence 
they will at least ever be kept green in the memory and recollection of 
those by whom they are perused. From early life Mr. DulTee has been 
an ardent admirer of the drama. He had studied it in detail, and there 
was scarcely a passage in any standard production upon the stage but 
what he had read and was familiar with. V/ith this knowledge he had 
a fine conception, which was greatly improved by his becoming a pupil 
under Dwyer, the celebrated elocutionist. In perusing a file ot _ the 
" Dramatic Mirror" w^hich is before us, we find some very able criticisms 
published as editorial, that became celebrated among the lovers and judges 
of dramatic excellence. In one paper we find that the editor speaks of 
them as able contributions, and in almost every number we find commu- 
nications from persons endorsing and praising the articles for their inde- 
pendence, honesty, and beauty of style. It was while in connection with 
the " Dramatic Mirror" that Mr. Duflve became acquainted with Mr. 
James Pees, a well known critic and author. It appears somewhat singu- 
lar that two individuals of nearly the same school of thinking should 
thus come together with the same determination. They immediately be- 
came bosom friends, and remain so still, and it is to their combined eflorts 



172 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

that the patrons of the drama owe much in regard to the correction of 
stage abuses. Those who are cynical may exclaim with truth, "There is 
not mucii done as yet," but the arLicles of " Mac-duff" and " CoUey Gib- 
ber" have begun the good work that must eventually be perfected. In mu- 
sical matters, Mr. Duffee has also some good pretensions. His knowledge 
of the divine art is practical, and he is perfectly familiar with all its techni- 
calities. Quite a number of operatic reviews from his pen appeared some 
time ago in the " Pennsylvanian" and " Daily Keystone," evincing much 
taste and scientific knowledge. After Mr. Duffee had spent some time in 
his regular occupation as an accountant, destiny ordered him to under- 
take a journey to the " far West." When he arrived in Louisville, he 
found that his reputation had preceded him, and where he expected to 
meet the cold courtesy of strangers, he found the warm welcome of friend- 
ship, and the extended hand of hospitality. He immediately became a 
regular contributor to the LouisvUle Journal, one of the best western pa- 
pers, edited by that well known poet, wit, and gentleman, George D. Pren- 
tice, Esq., whose kindness to Sumner Lincoln Fairfield at once showed 
the true spirit of philanthropy that held its place in his heart. This 
talented gentleman was so pleased with one of Mr. Duft'ee's productions, 
descriptive of the western 2)rairies and Indian mounds, that he openly 
expressed himself in the following complimentary manner : " For graphic 
description and glowing imagery this piece has been but seldom equalled, 
and never surpassed." When a man like George D. Prentice thus ex- 
presses himself, we can in truth say that the production must be meri- 
torious. Whilst engaged in the stern I'ounds of a business life, away 
from home and kindred, he found time to add much to his literary 
reputation, and at the same time exhibit his strong versatile powers. He 
wrote some fine graphic sketches of the most prominent western lite- 
rati ; showing that, to a fine imagination and an amiable disposition, he 
possessed a highly critical and analytical mind. They were extensively 
copied, and eagerly sought after, both by the friends of the parties and 
the public generally. 

After Mr. Duffee had reaped some laurels in Louisville, he departed 
further westward, in the hope of gaining sufllcient wealth to allow him 
to enjoy the beauties of natui'e he so much admired, and at tlie same 
time render him capable of assisting others, and contributing his por- 
tion to the wealth and business capital of the country. His fine business 
knowledge gave him confidence in himself, and his amiable habits and 
gentlemanly bearing gave him the facility of acquiring a position that 
other men would not have dared to assume. 

In his business habits he was distinct from other men who enter the 
arena of a literary life. We find too often that men, possessed of the 
most splendid abilities, are mere children in the ordinary affairs of life. 
Like loving mothers, they gaze upon their written children, conceived by 
fancy, with a jealous eye ; and in striving to give them that much 
coveted and hoped for immortality, forget the duties they owe to their 
own personal welfare. But not so with our author : he had been early 
cast upon the woi'ld, and knew its cold charity and hypocritical philan- 
thropy. He liad seen the child of genius wandering, lonely and for- 
lorn, down life's dark path, flinging around him, as it were, " the bright- 
est and holiest gems of thought," which were either trodden under foot 



FRANCIS HAROLB DUFFEE, OF PENNSYLVANIA. l^S 

by the unfeeling crowd, or grasped by others, to swell their coffers, while 
their owner laid himself down to die. He had a few grains of common 
sense in his composition, that preserved him in a great measure from the 
fate of those whose ways and inclinations are after his own heart. 

Mr. Duffee's first speculation was the chartering of a steamboat on the 
Ohio and Wabash rivers. This enterprise, we can say without wishing 
to pun, for a time went on swimmingly, but afterwards it ran against a 
snag and keeled over. This cured our friend of his nautical desires; so 
after discharging all liabilities, he drew on some of his eastern friends for 
funds to return home. When he arrived, he found sufficient places open 
to receive him ; so mounting a clerk's stool in a broker's office, he com- 
menced with pen in hand to rebuild what little fortune he had lost in 
his steamboat speculation. 

In this connection he became associated with the late Henry Ewing, 
Esq., of Nashville, Tennessee, one of the most amiable, urbane, and busi- 
ness-like gentlemen with whom we ever had the pleasure of making an 
acquaintance. Upon Mr. Ewing's decease, which occurred three years 
subsequent, Mr. Duffee succeeded him as the agent of the Merchants' 
Insurance and Trust Company of Nashville, Tennessee. In this position, 
Mr. D. exhibited financial talents of the highest order, and sustained the 
credit of the company through a period of extraordinary pecuniary em- 
barrassment. His conduct, however, received the highest encomiums 
from the Directors of the company ; and, upon his resignation as agent, 
he was sent to Europe as the confidential agent of the Ohio Life Insur- 
ance and Trust Company, of New York, on a business mission of con- 
siderable importance, involving the settlement of a large amount of 
money. While there, he made the acquaintance and friendship of the 
principal bankers of London and Liverpool. His mission was entirely 
successful, and upon his return he received the most complimentary ac- 
knowledgments from the company whose interests he had so ably and 
faithfully represented. So much indeed were his business talents appre- 
ciated while in London, that the extensive and well known firm of 
Messrs. A. A. Gower, Nephews & Co. extended liim unusual civilities, 
residing with them at their princely mansion in Finsbuiy Square, and 
receiving through their courtesy, in connection with that of Messrs. Ba- 
ring, Brothers & Co., and Barnett, Hare <fe Co., invitations to the 
Lord Mayor's dinner, Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace, the Tower, 
Ptoyal Mint, and other celebrated '' lions of the town." While at the 
Royal Mint he kindly received from the superintendent various beautiful 
specimens of the coinage of the kingdom. 

During his entire sojourn in England, Mr. D. was entertained with 
marked hospitality, rendering his trip to Europe replete w'itli the most 
pleasing and satisfactory reminiscences. Upon his return to Philadel- 
phia, he made application and was immediately admitted a member of 
the Board of Brokei's. He forthwith commenced business as a stock 
broker, in connection with a partner ; but shortly after, the firm met 
with an almost ruinous loss, by the failure of a fellow-member of the 
board, to v.'hom they had loaned, the preceding day, a large sum of 
money. Nothing daunted, but severely chagrined, ^Ir. D. dissolved the 
partnership so recently foi-med, and with renewed energy soon succeeded 
in building himself up again to his former station as a business man. 



174 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

Sucli in fact is the peculiaiity of the American character, which, cast 
down in one place, rises triumpliant in another. There is no nation on 
the face of the globe that exhibits more truly heroic traits of character, 
in this respect, than that of the American people. We do not purpose, 
however, to digress ; suffice it, that Mr. D. has, we learn, realized for him- 
self and family almost a competency, by the dint of indefatigable indus- 
try. We have understood that it is one of Mr. iJ.'s proverbs to " owe 
no man, woman, or child a dollar," but always to adhere to the maxim, 
" Pay as you go." 

We will now advert briefly to Mr. Dutfee's political position, which is 
one of high distinction, as one of the Whig representatives of the city in 
the Select Council. Mr. D. owes his preferment mainly to his reputation 
as an energetic and persevering business man, in connection with superior 
intellectual attainments. He has contributed liberally to the Whig cause 
in a pecuniary sense, and also by the free use of his pen, in advocacy of 
the cause. His articles are written in a masterly manner, and give him 
considerable reputation. He was first taken up by the Whigs of High 
Street W^ard, to fill an unexpired term ; voted for at large by the people, 
and elected by a handsome majority. His subsequent course, duiing the 
period of the term for which he was elected, meeting with the marked 
approbation of his constituents, he was re-nominated over the President 
of the Select Council, and re-elected for the term of three years, the first 
of which has not yet expired. Mr. D. maintains, by his affable and con- 
ciliatory course, a high position in the Select Chamber. He is also a 
prominent member of the Finance, Police, and other committees. 

In connection with Mr, D.'s career as a councilman, we chp the follow- 
ing from the " Wheeling Times" and "Memphis Express," which fully 
endorses all that we have previously remarked in regard to this gentle- 
man's talents and business habits : — 

Philadelphia, February 8, 
When I last wrote you, there had been no decision in our city councils 
respecting the Hempfield subscription, although the action of that body 
was, to a great extent, anticipated, in the case named. The meeting was 
largely attended by tliose interested in the welfare of our city, and in 
spite of oposition, the subscription was carried by a vote at once gratify- 
ing and emphatic. This result is mainly o\v'ing to the strenuous and 
manly course of Colonel F, H. Puffee, of the Select Council, He under- 
stands the value of the Hempfield road to Philadelphia, and understand- 
ing it, made it clear to the minds of all. He deserves well of Wheeling, 
and stands high in public estimation here. Young, talented, refined, and 
brilliant, he claims and receives admiration. And gifted with a far seeing 
vision, he leads the way in the new that is good, without injuiy to the 
old that is valuable. If all our councilmen Avere like him, New York 
would soon lose vantage ground at the West. But they are not, although 
he has infused the right spirit into many of them. He recommended 
the subscription in the Finance Committee, and carried double the amount 
there recommended through councils. His heart is right for the Marietta 
road, and through his exertions and untiring energy our authorities di- 
rected their delegate in tlie late meeting of the stockholders of the Cen- 
tral Pennsylvania Railroad to subscribe 1750,000 to the capital stock of 



FRANCIS HAROLD DUFFEE, OF PENNSYLVANIA. lYS 

the Marietta line. We are all in the wao;on now, and won't wait lonsf for 
the nde. Pittsburgh growls, but that's her nature, and while she snarls 
about these a]ipropriations, v.-e have the consolation of knowing that she 
is allowing other things to rest. — Wheeling Times and Gazette. 

" Steubenville and Hempfield Railroad. — The signs are favorable 
now, and the election of Judge Conrad to the presidency of the company 
is a guaranty that the road will be finished at the earliest possible time. 
This community have confidence in that gentleman's abilities, judgment, 
and business tact, and since his election to the post named, the Finance 
Committee of our City Councils has recommended the appropriation of 
$250,000, which sura will be voted by councils on Thursday evening next. 
The road is indebted, mainly, to Colonel F. II. Dufiee, of the Select 
Council, for this recommendation, and his endoisement of such a contri- 
bution to the stock of the company by Philadelphia, is proof that the 
Hempfield road is one whose claims for our aid are paramount to those 
of the Steubenville line. He is a gentleman of sagacity, and devoted to 
the interests of the city and State, and if he could see that there is no 
sectionalism in the Steubenville line, would as readily give that road his 
support, as he has extended his aid to the Hempfield work. 

" Pittsburgh is grasping. She don't want Philadelphia to connect with 
Wheeling, and expects the entire trade passing east and west to go 
through and pay toll in her borders." 

The Philadelphia Commercial Register speaks as above of Judge Con- 
rad and our esteemed friend. Colonel F. H. Dufiee, of the Select Council 
of the city of Philadelphia. It is but a justly merited compliment to 
this worthy gentleman — whose reputation is not less prominent as a 
financial agent in the Board of Brokers of the Quake r city, than as a 
member of the Select Council. We had occasion lately to present him 
to our readers, then associating his name with that of the late Henry 
Ewing, Esq., of Philadelphia, formerly of Tennessee. He was the pride 
and boast of his friends, and confided in fully by all who knew him. 
Colonel Dufiee enjoyed his confidence most fully — he is worthy of every 
good man's confidence, and of the confidential trust of the public or of 
individuals. — Memphis {Tennessee) Daily Press. 

Having thus glanced briefly at the prominent points in Mr. D.'s liis- 
tory, both as a literary and business man, we will remark in conclusion, 
that within the last few years he has suftered his pen to rest from its 
labors, and with the exception of a sketch " now and then," seldom 
gives out anything to make the literary caldron " boil and bubble." 
His contributions to the " Beauties of Sacred Literature " have elicited 
much admiration in certain circles. The editor. Professor Wyatt, re- 
marked to us that he thought that the article entitled " The Peifidy of 
Judas," from Mr. D.'s pen, was in reality worth the price of subscription. 
As a letter writer Mr. D. has frequently figured in the columns of the 
New York Herald, and those of other large cities. 

In personal appearance Mr. Dufiee is prepossessing. He is tall, well 
formed, with a pleasing cast of countenance. In manners, he has. no use 
for a pocket edition of Chesterfield. In conversation, he is friendly and 
engaging, always endeavoring to make those around him feel sensible that 



176 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

he entertains towards them both respect and esteem. He is mild in his 
disposition, and we should judge him to be a good friend, but rather an 
annoying enemy. He has been recently appointed as aid-de-camp to 
the Governor, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, having served several 
years in a cavalry company, in all ranks from private to caj^tain in com- 
mand. 

He is a gentleman we both respect and admire, and it affords us plea- 
sure to hold him up to the " rising generation," as one who has always 
been exemplary in all the relations of both public and private life. Such 
men are, indeed, the architects of their own fortunes, and command both 
the love and respect of the whole community. 



THOMAS HARRIS, 

OF PENNSYLVANIA, FORMERLY CHIEF OF BUREAU OF MEDICINE AND 

SURGERY. 

Dr. Thomas Harris, previous to his elevation to the Bureau of Medicine 
and Surgery, occupied a distinguished and well-earned professional posi- 
tion. With an extensive and lucrative general practice, he combined a 
high reputation as a surgeon, lecturer, and clinical instructor. 

Dr. Harris was born in Chester county, in the State of Pennsylvania, 
on the 3d of January, 1784. He is the second son of the late General 
William Harris, who served with distinction in the war of the Revolution. 
His paternal grandfather, a native of Ireland, was a large landholder in 
the fertile valley of Chester county. In the spring of 1 804 he com- 
menced the study of medicine with Dr. Davis, of the same county, and 
after attending the lectures at the University of Pennsylvania, obtained 
his degree in 1809. For three years afterwards he i"»ractised his profes- 
sion in Chester county, with considerable success. 

In 1812, during the war with Great Britain, he received from Mr. 
Madison a commission as surgeon in the navy, and joined the Wasp 
sloop of war, under the command of the gallant Commodore (then Com- 
mander) Jacob Jones. Hardly in the service. Dr. Harris had the good 
fortune to take part in one of the most biilliant actions of the war. A 
week after sailing from New Castle, the Wasp encountered the sloop of 
war Frolic, of superior force, and after an action of little more than half 
an hour captured her. An hour subsequently, however, both the prize 
and her captor fell into the hands of the Poictiers, seventy-four, which 
carried them into Bermuda. 

Here they remained a few weeks, until they were exchanged. Upon 
returning home, Captain Jones, and all his officers, including, of course. 
Surgeon Harris, were ordered to the Macedonian frigate. The Macedo- 
nian was blockaded in New London for a year, and thence transfei'red to 
the lakes. After serving a year on the lakes in this ship, and in the fri- 



THOMAS HARRIS, OF PENNSTLVANIA. 17 



^7 



gate Mohawk, Dr. Harris was again ordered to the Macedonian, Captain 
Jones, to form part of Decatnr's squadron against Algiers. The Algerine 
frigate Mazouda, and a brig of war, were captured by Commodore Decatur. 
The Mazouda was unprovided with a surgeon, and had suffered greatly 
during the action. Dr. Harris was placed on board of her, where 
lie had his hands full with amputations and other operations. After 
cruising among the Barbary and other ports on the Mediterranean, 
he returned to the United States with the squadron in the autumn of 
1815. 

These three years of active service gave Dr. Harris an admirable op- 
portunity of making himself a skilful operator. He had the qualities 
necessary to turn his advantages to account — ^judgment, coolness, readi- 
ness, and dexterity — and he came out of the war with an established repu- 
tation and solid experience. 

Upon returning home. Dr. Harris was placed on furlough for a year ; 
then ordered to the Guerriere at Boston, where he remained till 1817 ; 
and afterwards stationed at the hospital of the Navy Yard at Philadel- 
phia. At this station he remained till 1842, with the exception of a 
short cruise to the West Indies in 1823. In this year he was sent, with 
Commodore Rodgers, at the head of a commission, to examine into the 
condition of the seamen sutfering from yellow fever at Key West, and to 
report as to the eligibility of that port as a station for our squadrons. 
During his residence in Philadelphia, Dr. Harris has been employed in 
various capacities in the naval service. He was chosen to select the site 
for the Naval Asylum in that city, and to superintend its erection ; and 
has repeatedly served on the board to examine candidates for the medical 
corps. 

With the advantage of an excellent reputation. Dr. Harris commenced 
the practice of his profession in Philadelphia in 1817. His success has 
been brilliant. In 1840, when he was compelled by ill health to relin- 
quish active business, he was in receipt of a professional income that has 
seldom been reached in Philadelphia. Dr. Harris possesses, in an emi- 
nent degree, those minor qualifications for professional success, without 
which the strongest combination of talent and knowledge is unavailing. 
To an agreeable address, a pleasant flow of conversation, and a coitliality 
of manner, the more attractive because felt to he sincere, he unites a 
ready command of resources, therapeutic and dietetic, and the happy 
capacity of almost endlessly varying them, and adapting them to the 
tastes of his patients. 

Dr. Harris has been, for a number of years, a lecturer on surgery. 
In 1823 he formed one of a private association with Doctors Ilewsou, 
Meigs, and Bache, with whom he continued till 1826, when he was ap- 
pointed to lecture on surgery in the Medical Institute. His courses in 
this school have been eminently popular. We have never heard a better 
practical lecturer. His style is familiar, sometimes conversational, and 
his matter has the great attraction of appearing to emanate more from 
his own experience than the gleanings of books. Dr. Harris has long 
been a champion of the non-specific doctrines of syphilis, and of the anti- 
mercurial treatment of this disease. He devotes a considerable portion 
of his lectures to this subject, and defends his views ably and in- 
geniously. 

VOL. IV. 12 



1*78 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. " 

Most of our readers will probably take issue with Lim on this point ; 
at least our own opinion is that the mass of evidence, particularly the 
recent experiments by inoculation, tend to confirm the view of John 
Hunter, "that the venereal disease arises from a poison which is capable 
again of producing a similar disease." Dr. Harris has had much reputa- 
tion in the treatment of syphilitic affections. As he pursues a strictly 
anti-mercurial course, his success may be fairly adduced to show that the 
primary symptoms of the disease are very manageable without mercury. 
In 1826 he published an elaborate memoir on this subject in the North 
American MedicJil and Surgical Journal, which was extensively copied 
into the European journals. 

Dr. Harris was for twelve years one of the surgeons to the Pennsylvania 
Hospital, having held the post from 1829 to 1841, when he resigned from 
ill health. During this long clinical service, he has been distinguished 
for the success as well as the number of his operations. In 1837 he 
excised the elbow-joint for caries — the first time this operation was per- 
formed in this country. He amputated the tongue in two instances for 
hypertrophy. These cases were published in the American Journal for 
the years 1830 and 1837. A series of excellent chnical lectures by Dr. 
Harris have appeared in this journal. 

Dr. Harris has contributed a number of articles to different medical 
periodicals. In 1821 he published a paper on "Metastasis" in the Me- 
dical Recorder, which, like the article on syphilis, went the rounds of the 
European journals. A life of Commodore Bainbridge, published in 1837, 
is extremely creditable to Dr. Harris's literary powers. This spirited 
sketch of the hero of the Java may fairly rank with any of our naval 
biographies. 

After 1842, Dr. Harris was so far restored to health as to be induced 
again to return to practice. In 1844 he was selected by the Government 
for the responsible post of chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. 
This was an office altogether unsolicited on his part, but the high position 
he had taken in the medical corps of the navy, as well as his distinguished 
professional reputation in the country, naturally pointed him out as the 
most proper person to be called to the head of the corps. He discharged 
the duties thus devolved ujDon him, with what success the service and 
the country will bear witness. 



HORACE MANN, 

FORMERLY OF MASSACHUSETTS, NOW PRESIDENT OF ANTIOCH COLLEGE 
AT YELLOW SPRINGS, GREENE COUNTY, OHIO. 

Horace Mann was born in the town of Franklin, Norfolk county, Mas- 
sachusetts, May 4, 1796. His father, Mr. Thomas Mann, supported his 
family by cultivating a small farm. He died when the subject of this 
memoir was thirteen years of age, leaving him little besides the example 



HORACE MANN, OF OHIO. I'/O 

of an upright life, virtuous inculcations, and hereditary thirst for know- 
ledge. 

His only surviving sister, Miss Lydia B.Mann, crowns a life of benevo- 
lent exertion by devoting her time and energies almost gratuitously, as 
principal of a school for poor colored children, in Providence, R. I. Silver 
and gold has she none ; but her labors, her influence, her life, she gives 
to the poor. 

The narrow circumstances of the father limited the educational advaa- 
tages of his children. They were taught in the district common school; 
and it Avas the misfortune of the famil}^ that it belonged to the smallest 
district, had the poorest schoolhouse, and employed the cheapest teachers, 
in a town which was itself both small and poor. When the obscure boy 
of this obscure school afterwards became Secretary of the Massachusetts 
Board of Education, it is well known with what earnestness he used to 
dwell upon the importance of schoolhouse architecture, and with what 
graphic touches of description he would paint the houses which had never 
been j^dnfed in fact. Doubtless, many of his pictures were drawn, not 
from fancy, but from memory. That old weather-beaten and time-sti'icken 
house, with its curtainless, blindless, and sometimes its almost paneless 
windows, illustrated a kind of ventilation which he might well call " preter- 
natural." Its rude, high, and backless seats made " the verb to sit an 
active verb." The wide-throated chimney, creating when in full blast a 
tropical heat around the fire-place, while at the distance of ten feet on 
either side the cold was almost arctic, furnished a "fine opportunity for 
geographical illustration, because five steps would carry one through the 
five zones." In winter, the congealing of the ink in his pen while he was 
writing, perhaps furnished him with the anecdote of the boy who excused 
himself from the non-production of his composition, by assuring the 
master that "though his ideas might flow his ink wouldn't;" while in 
summer it was "the lone hermit-house standing out of sight and hearing 
of any fellow-tree." He has somewhere described a schoolhouse " the 
roof of which, on one side, was trough-like ; and down towards the eaves 
there was a large hole, so that the whole operated like a funnel to catch 
all the rain and pour it into the school-room." * " At first," says he, " I did 
not know but it might be some apparatus designed to explain the 
deluge. I called and inquired of the mistress if she and her little ones 
were not sometimes drov.'ned out. She said she should be, only that the 
floor leaked as badly as the roof, and drained off" the water." 

His father was a man of feeble health, and died of consumption. 
Horace inherited weak lungs, and from the age of twenty to thirty years 
he just skirted the fatal shores of that disease on which his father had 
been wrecked. This inherited weakness, accompanied by a high nervous 
temperament, and aggravated by a want of judicious physical training in 
early life, gave him a sensitiveness of organization and a keenness of 
susceptibility, which nothing but the iron clamps of habitual self-restraint 
could ever have conti-olled. As the apostle of education, he has oftert 
illustrated the responsibilities of other teachers by the shortcomings of 
his own. At that time, however, few families were brought up advisedly 
on physiological principles. If the great laws of health and life were any- 
where kept, it was the result of a happy accident and not of applied 
science. The dreadful consequences of that universal ignorance are now 



180 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

stamped upon every feature of society. The census of the nation can 
alone present us with the full number of its victims. The blessings of 
health have been so extensively forfeited by bad training, that it is now 
rare to find the health that is a blessing. 

His mother, whose maiden name was Stanley, was a woman of supe- 
rior intellect and character. In her mind, the flash of intuition superseded 
the slow processes of ratiocination. Results always ratified her predic- 
tions. She was a true mother. On her list of duties and of pleasures 
her children stood first, the world and herself afterwards. She was able 
to impart but little of the details of knowledge ; but she did a greater 
work than this, by imparting the principles by which all knowledge 
should be guided. 

Mr. Mann's early life was spent in a rural district, in an obscure county 
town, without tlie appliance of excitements or opportunity for display. 
In a letter before us, written long ago to a friend, he says : 

" I regard it as an irretrievable misfortune that my childhood was not 
a liappy one. By nature I was exceedingly elastic and buoyant, but the 
poverty of my parents subjected me to continual piivations, I believe in 
the ruo'ffed nursing of Toil, but she nursed me too much. In the winter 
time, 1 was employed iu in-door and sedentary occupations, which con- 
fined me too strictly; and in summer, when I could work on the farm, the 
labor was too severe, and often encroached upon the hours of sleep. I do 
not remember the time when I began to work. Even my play-days, — not 
play-days, for I never had any, — but my play-hours were earned by extra 
exertion, finishing tasks early to gain a little leisure for boyish sports. 
My parents sinned ignorantly, but God afiixes the same physical penalties 
to the violation of His laws, whether that violation be wilful or ignorant. 
For wilful violation, there is the added penalty of remorse, and that is 
the only difterence. Here let me give you two pieces of advice which 
shall be (jratis to you, though they cost me what is of more value than 
diamonds. Train your children to work, though not too hard; and unless 
they are grossly lymphatic, let them sleep as much as they will. I have 
derived one compensation, however, fi'om the rigor of my early lot. 
Industry, or diligence, became my second nature, and I think it would 
puzzle any psychologist to tell where it joined on to the first. Owing 
to these ingrained habits, work has always been to me what water is 
to a fish. I have wondered a thousand times to hear people say, 'I 
don't like this business;' or, 'I wish I could exchange for that;' for with 
me, whenever I have had anything to do, I do not remember ever to 
have demurred, but have always set about it like a fatalist ; and it was 
as sure to be done as the sun is to set. 

" "What was called the love of knowledge was, in my time, necessarily 
cramped into a love of books ; because there was no such thing as oral 
instruction. Books designed for children were few, and their contents 
meagre and miserable. My teachers were very good people, but they 
were very poor teachers. Looking back to the school-boy days of my 
mates and myself, I cannot adopt the line of Virgil, 

' fortunatos nimium sua si bona norint.' 

I deny the bona. With the infinite universe around us, all ready to be 



HORACE MANN, OF OHIO. 181 



daguerreotyped upon our souls, we were never placed at the right focus 
to receive its glorious images. I had an intense natural love of beauty, 
and of its expression in nature and in the fine arts. As ' a poet was in 
Murray lost,' so at least an amateur poet, if not an artist, was lost in 
me. How often, when a boy, did I stop, like Akenside's hind, to gaze 
at the glorious sunset ; and lie down upon my back, at night, on the 
earth, to look at the heavens. Yet with all our senses and our faculties 
Mowing and receptive, how little were we taught; or rather, how much 
obstruction was thrust in between us and nature's teachings. Our eyes 
were never trained to distinguish forms and colors. Our ears were 
strangers to music. So far from being taught the art of drawing, which 
is a beautiful language by itself, I well remember that when the impulse 
to express in pictures what I could not express in words was so strong 
that, as Cowper says, it tingled down to my fingers, then my knuckles 
were rapped with the heavy ruler of the teacher, or cut with his rod, so 
that an artificial tingling soon drove away the natural. Such youthful 
buoyancy as even severity could not repress was our only dancing master. 
Of all our faculties, the memory for words was the only one specially 
appealed to. The most comprehensive generalizations of men were given 
us, instead of the facts from which those generalizations were formed. 
All ideas outside of the book were contraband articles, which the teacher 
confiscated, or rather flung overboard. Oh, when the intense and burning 
activity of youthful faculties shall find employment in salutary and pleas- 
ino- studies or occupations, then will parents be able to judge better of 
the alleged proneness of children to mischief. Until then, children have 
not a fair trial before their judges. 

" Yet, with these obstructions, I had a love of knowledge which no- 
thing could repress. An inward voice raised its plaint for ever in my 
heart for something nobler and better. And if my parents had not the 
means to give me knowledge, they intensified the love of it. They 
always spoke of learning and learned men with enthusiasm and a kind 
of reverence. I was taught to take care of the few books we had, as 
though there was something sacred about them. I never dogseared one 
in my life, nor proftxnely scribbled upon title pages, margin or fly-leaf, 
and would as soon have stuck a pin through my flesh as througli the 
pages of a book. AVhen very young, I remember a young lady came to 
our house on a visit, who was said to have studied Latin. I looked upon 
her as a sort of goddess. Years after, the idea that I could ever study 
Latin broke upon my mind with the wonder and bewilderment of a reve- 
lation. Until the age of fifteen I had never been to school more than 
eight or ten weeks in a year. 

"" I said we had but few books. The town, however, owned a small 
library. When incorporated, it was named after Dr. Franklin, whose repu- 
tation was then not only at its zenith, but, like the sun over Gibeon, was 
standing still there. As an acknowledgment of the compliment, he 
oftered them a bell for their church, but afterwards saying that, from 
what he had learned of the character of the people, he thought they 
would prefer sense to sound, he changed the gift into a library. Though 
this library consisted of old histories and theologies, suited perhaps to 
the taste of the ' conscript fathers ' of the town, but miserably adapted 
to the ' prescript ' children, yet I wasted my youthful ardor upon its 



1S2 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

martial pages, and learned to glory in war, which both reason and con- 
science have since taught me to consider almost universally a crime. Oh, 
when will men learn to redeem that childhood in their ofTspring which 
■was lost to themselves ! We watch for the seed-time for our fields and 
improve it, but neglect the mind until midsummer or even autnmn 
comes, when all the activism of the vernal sun of youth is gone. I have 
endeavored to do something to remedy this criminal defect. Had I the 
power, I would scatter libraries over the whole land, as the sower sows 
his wheat field. 

" More than by toil or by the privation of any natural taste, was the 
inward joy of my youth blighted by theological inculcations. The pastor 
of the church in Franklin was the somewhat celebrated Dr. Emmons, 
■who not only preached to his people, but ruled them for more than fifty 
years. He was an extra or hyper-Calvinist — a man of pure intellect, 
whose logic was never softened in its severity by the infusion of any 
kindliness of sentiment. He expounded all the doctrines of total de- 
pravity, election, and reprobation, and not only the eternity but the ex- 
tremity of hell torments, unflinchingly and in their most terrible signifi- 
cance, while he rarely if ever descanted upon the joys of heaven, and 
never, to my recollection, upon the essential and necessary happiness of 
a virtuous life. Going to church on Sunday was a sort of religious ordi- 
nance in our family, and dui'ing all my boyhood I hardly ever remember 
staying at home. Hence, at ten years of age, I became familiar with the 
whole creed, and knew all the arts of theological fence by which objec- 
tions to it were wont to be parried. It might be that I accej^ted the 
doctrines too literally, or did not temper them with the proper qualifica- 
tions, but in the way in which they came to my youthful mind, a certain 
number of souls were to be for ever lost, and nothing, not powers, nor 
principalities, nor man, nor angel, nor Christ, nor the Holy Spirit, nay, 
not God Himself could save them, for He had sworn before time was to 
get eternal glory out of their eternal torment. But, perhaps, I might 
not be one of the lost ! But my little sister might be ; my mother might 
be ; or others whom I loved ; and I felt that if they were in hell, it 
would make a hell of whatever other part of the universe I might inhabit, 
for T could never get a glimpse of consolation from the idea that my own 
nature could be so transformed, and become so like what God's was said 
to be, that I too could rejoice in their suflierings. 

" Like all children, I believed what I was taught. To my vivid ima- 
gination, a physical hell was a living reality, as much so as though I 
could have heard the shrieks of the tormented, or stretched out my hand 
to grasp their burning souls, in a vain endeavor for their rescue. Such 
a faith spread a pall of blackness over the whole heavens, shutting out 
every beautiful and glorious thing, while beyond that curtain of darkness 
I could see the bottomless and seething lake filled with torments, and 
hear the wailing and agony of its victims. I am sure I felt all this a 
thousand times more than my teachers did, and is not this a warning to 
teachers ? 

" What we phrenologists call causality — the faculty of mind by which 
we see effects in causes, and causes in effects, and invest the future with 
a present reality — this faculty was always intensely active in my mind. 
Hence the doom of the judgment day was ante-dated; the torments 



HORACE MAKN, OF OHIO. 183 

which, as the doctrine taught me, were to begin with death, began im- 
mediately, and each momeiit became a burning focus on which were con- 
centrated, as far as the finiteness of my nature would allow, the agonies 
of the coming eternity. 

"Had there been 'any possibility of escape, could penance, fastmg, 
self-inflicted wounds, or the pains of a thousand martyr-deaths,_ have 
averted the fate, my agony of apprehension would have been alleviated ; 
but there, bevond cfibrt, beyond virtue, beyond hope, was this irrevers- 
able decree of Jehovah, immutable, from everlasting to everlasting. The 
judgment had been made up and entered upon the eternal record mil- 
lions of years before we, who were judged by it, had been born ; and 
there sat the Omnipotent upon His throne with eyes and heart of stone 
to guard it ; and had all the beings in all the universe gathered them- 
selves together before Him to implore but the erasure of only a single 
name from the list of the doomed, their prayers would have been in 



vam 



" I shall not now enter into any theological disquisition on these matters, 
infinitely momentous as they are. 1 shall not stop to inquire into the 
soundness of these doctrines, or whether I held the truth in error, my 
only object here being, according to your request, to speak of my youth 
biographically, or give you a sketch of some of my juvenile experiences. 
The consequences "upon my mind and happiness were disastrous in the 
extreme. Often, on going to bed at night, did the objects of the day and 
the foces of friends give place to a vision of the awful throne, the inexo- 
rable Judge, and the hapless myriads, among whom T often seemed to see 
those whoui I loved best, and there I wept and sobbed until nature found 
that counterfeit repose in exhaustion whose genuine reality she shoiild 
have found in freedom from care and the spontaneous happiness of child- 
hood. What seems most deplorable in the retrospect, all these fears and 
sufferino-s, springing from a belief in the immutability of the decrees that 
had been made, never prompted me to a single good action, or had the 
slightest efficacy in deterring me from a bad one. I remained in this 
condition of mind until I was twelve years of age. I remember the day, 
the hour, the place, the circumstances, as well as though the event had 
happened but yesterday, when, in an agony of despair, I broke the spell 
that had bound me. From that day, 1 began to construct the theory of 
Christian ethics and doctrine respecting virtue and vice, rewards and 
penalties, time and eternity, God and His providence, which, with such 
modifications as advancing age and a wider vision must impart, I still 
retain, and out of which my life has flowed. I have come round again 
to a belief in the eternity otS-ewards and punishments, as a f:ict necessarily 
resulting from the constitution of our nature ; but how infinitely different 
in its effects upon conduct, character, and happiness, is this belief from 
that which blasted and consumed the joy of my childhood ! 

" As to my early habits, whatever may have been my shortcomings,! can 
still say that I have always been exempt from what may be called com- 
mon vices. I was never intoxicated in my life— unless, perchance, with 
joy or anger. I never swore — indeed profanity was always most disgust- 
ing and impulsive to me. And (I consider it always a climax) I never 
used the ' vile weed ' in any form. I early formed the resolution to be 
a slave to no habit. For the rest, my public life is almost as well known 



184 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

to others as to myself; and, as it commonly happens to public men, 
others Jcnoiv my motives a great deal better than I doP 

Mr. Mann's father having died when he was thirteen years of age, he 
remained with his mother on the homestead until he was twenty. But 
an irrepressible yearning for knowledge still held possession of him. ''I 
know not how it was," said he to a friend in after life, " its motive never 
took the form of wealth or fame. It was rather an instinct which im- 
pelled towards knowledge, as that of migratory birds impels them north- 
ward in spring time. All my boyish castles in the air had reference 
to doing something for the benefit of mankind. The eai'ly precepts of 
benevolence, inculcated upon me by my parents, flowed out in this direc- 
tion ; and I had a conviction that knowledge was my needed instrument." 

A fortunate accident gave opportunity and development to this pas- 
sion. An itinerant schoolmaster, named Samuel Barrett, came into his 
neighborhood and opened a school. This man was eccentric and ab- 
normal both in appetites and faculties. He would teach a school for six 
months, tasting nothing stronger than tea, though in this Dr. Johnson 
was a model of temperance comj^ared with him, and then for another six 
months, more or less, he would travel the country in a state of beastly 
drunkenness, begging cider, or anything that would intoxicate, from house 
to house, and sleeping in barns or styes, until the paroxysm had passed 
by. Then he would be found clothed, and sitting in his right mind, and 
obtain another school. 

Mr. Barrett's speciality was English grammar, and Greek and Latin. 
In the dead languages, as far as he pretended to know anything, he 
seemed to know everything. All his knowledge, too, was committed to 
memory. In hearing recitations from Virgil, Cicero, the Greek Testa- 
ment, and other classical works then usually studied as a preparation for 
college, he never took a book into his hand. Not the sentiments only, 
but the sentences, in the transposed order of their words, were as familiar 
to him as his A, B, C, and he would as soon have missed a letter out of 
the alphabet, as article or particle out of the lesson. When a sentence 
in the ^neid, or in the Oration for the poet Archias (which was his 
favorite), had been torn and mangled by a bad recitation, it was grateful 
to hear him repeat it all over to himself, in the most soothing and mo- 
therly voice, as though he would bind up and heal its wounded and dis- 
located parts. Sometimes he would croon oft" (as the Scotch would say) 
page after page of the author, winding up each paragraph with such an 
inarticulate chuckle of delight, lis only a very fat man like him could 
give. It must have been to him that Mr. Mann referred, when in his 
controversy with the "Thirty-one Boston Schoolmasters," he speaks of 
the inspiring effect of a teacher's knowledge upon the progress of his 
pupils. " I know that this ability of his inspired one of his pupils, at 
least, with sentiments of respect towards him, with conceptions of excel- 
lence, and with an ardor for attainment, such as all the places and prizes 
ever bestowed, and a life of floggings into the bargain, could never have 
imparted. I well remember that when I encountered a difficulty either 
in translation or syntax, and was ready to despair of success in overcom- 
ing it, the mere thought hoio easy that 'would he to my teacher, seemed 
not only to invigorate my effort, but to give me an enlargement of power, 
so that I could return to the charge and triumph." 



HORACE MANN, OF OHIO. 185 

This learned Mr. Barrett was learned in languages alone. In arith- 
metic be was an idiot. He never could commit the multiplication table 
to memory, and did not know enough to date a letter or tell the time of 
day by the clock. 

In this chance school Mr. Mann first saw a Latin grammar ; but it 
was the Veni, vidi, vici of Caesar. Having obtained a reluctant consent 
from his guardian to prepare for college, with six months of schooling 
lie learned his grammar, read Cordorius, ^Esop's Fables, the ^Eneid, with 
parts of the Georgics and Bucolics, Cicero's Select Orations, the Four 
Gospels, and part of the Epistles in Greek, parts of the Grseca Majora and 
Minora, and entered the Sophomore class of Brown University, Provi- 
dence, in September, ISIG. 

With this hurried preparation, it was of course impossible to obtain 
that critical knowledge of syntax, or that acquaintance with collateral 
works, without which the study of the ancient languages confers but little 
other benefit than an enlargement of one's stock of words, and a general 
improvement of the diction. He could not then foresee the opportunity 
(which was soon, however, to occur) for making up these deficiencies ; 
and he therefore determined to supply them at once by extra study. 
This addition to the performance of ordinary tasks prompted the very 
extremity of self-imposed labor. Under the burning stimuli, too, which 
entering upon new fields of knowledge supplied, he forgot all idea of 
bodily timitations to mental ettbrt ; and at the end of his first college 
year he found himself utterly prostrated by illness, from which neither 
the resuscitative energies of nature, nor all the care which his laborious 
life has since allowed him to take, have ever enabled him to recover. 
What strength he has since possessed has been only the salvage on a 
wreck. How sad the fate of students in our ^colleges and universities ! 
Taken from the guidance and care of home, exposed to the temptation 
of vice on the one side, and of ambition on the other, finding abundant 
and delio'htful instruction in lano-uao-es and in science, but no counsel, 
no direction, no knowled!2:e, in the art of arts — the p-reat art of Living — 
how often do those of vicious susceptibilities plunge into vice, while those 
of ambitious aspirations ruin health in the pursuit of knowledge. Thus 
many genial and companionable natures are turned into profligates, while 
the lofty-minded and emulous are broken down by disease. 

Illness compelled him to leave his class for a short period; and again 
he was absent in the winter to keep school as a resource for paying col- 
lege bills. Yet when his class graduated in 1819, the first part or "Ho- 
nor" in the commencement exercises was awarded to him, with the 
unanimous approval of faculty and classmates. The theme of his oration 
on graduating foreshadowed the history of his life. It was on the Pro- 
gressive Character of the Human Race. With youthful enthusiasm he 
portrayed that higher condition of human society when education shall 
develop the people into loftier proportions of wisdom and virtue, when 
philanthropy shall succor the wants and relieve the woes of the race, and 
when free institutions shall abolish that oppression and war which have 
hitherto debarred nations from ascending into realms of grandeur and 
happiness. For an obscure young man, known only by the merits he 
had evinced and the hopes he inspired, it was an occasion of no incon- 
siderable eclat. 



186 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

The strongest original tendencies of character are usually shown in 
early manhood, before cautiousness has been trained by worldly discipline 
to take the lead in action. Those who knew Mr. Mann in college, and 
have watched him since, know how true this is in his case. He was a 
marked man among his young associates ; marked and remembered for 
those peculiarities of character which liave distinguished him ever since : 
first, bold and original thinking, which led him to investigate subjects 
without veneration for anything but the truth and right that he found in 
them ; second, a horror of cant and sham which made him attack, with 
invective and satire, all who resorted to them for selfish purposes. 

The boldness and force with whicli he has manifested these two pecu- 
liarities have kept out of the sight of the indiscriminating juany the third 
peculiarity, which is an uncommon activity and acuteness of the religious 
sense. Hence it is that, while many, in their technical sense, may not 
call him a religious man, in the highest sense he is truly and eminently 
religious. Ever searching for the laws of the natural and moral world, 
and referring them as fast as found to God, he pays to them and their 
Author the true worship of obedience and veneration. This is done in 
matters the most minute. He sees not only Ten Commandments, but 
ten thousand. Hence the delicacy of his moral sense ; hence his uniform 
and stern purity of life ; hence his uncompromising hostility to the im- 
piousness and sin of immorality of any kind, or by whomsoever com- 
mitted. 

Immediately after commencement (indeed some six weeks before, and 
immediately after the final examination of his class, so that no time might 
be lost; for the law then required three years' reading in a lawyer's 
office, or rather three years to be spent in a lawyer's office without any 
reference to reading), he entered his name in the office of the Hon. J. J. 
Fiske, of Wrentham, as a student at law. He had spent here, however, 
only a few months when he was invited back to college as a tutor in 
Latin and Greek. This proposal he was induced to accept for two rea- 
sons : first, it would lighten his burden of indebtedness (for he was living 
on borrowed money) ; and, second, it would aftbrd the opportunity he so 
much desired of revising and extending his classical studies. Everybody 
knows, that, other things being equal, the studious teacher will learn 
faster than it is possible for the most studious pupil to do. 

He now devoted himself most assiduously to Latin and Greek, and the 
instructions given to his class were characterized by two peculiarities, 
whose value all will admit, though so few have realized. Li addition to 
rendering the sense of the author, and a knowledge of syntactical rules, 
he always demanded a translation in the most elegant, choice, and eu- 
phonious language. He taught his Latin classes to look through the 
■whole list of synonymes given in the Latin-English dictionary, and to 
select from among them all, the one which -would convey the author's 
idea in the most expressive, graphic, and elegant manner, rendering 
military terms by military terms, nautical by nautical, the language of 
rulers in language of majesty and conunand, of suppliants by words of 
entreaty, and so forth. This method improves diction surprisingly. The 
student can almost feel his organ of language grow under its training ; 
at any rate, he can see from month to month that it has grown. The 
other particular referred to, consisted in elucidating the text by geo- 



HORACE MANN, OF OHIO. 187 

graphical, biographical, and historical references, thus opening the mind 
of the student to a vast fund of collateral knowledge, and making use of 
the great mental law, that it is easier to remember two or even ten 
associated ideas, than either of them alone. 

Though liberal in granting indulgences to his class, yet he was in- 
exorable in demanding correct recitations. However much of priva- 
tion or pain the gating of a lesson might cost, yet it was generally 
got as the lesser evil. One day a student asked the steward of the 
college what he was going to do with some medicinal preparation he 
had. " Mr. So and So," said the steward, " has a violent attack of 
fever, and I am going to give him a sweat." " If you want to give him 
a sweat," said the inquirer, " send him into our recitation room without 
his lesson." 

While in college, Mr. Mann had excelled in scientific studies. He 
now had an opportunity to improve himself in classical culture. A com- 
parison of the two convinced him how infinitely inferior in value, not 
only as an attainment, but as a means of mental discipline, is heathen 
mythology to modern science ; the former consisting of the imaginations 
of man, the latter of the handiwork of God. 

In the latter part of 1821, having resigned his tutorship, he entered 
the law school at Litchfield, Connecticut, then at the zenith of its repu- 
tation under the late Judge Gould. Here he remained rather more than 
a year, devoting himself with great assiduity to the study of the law under 
that distinguished jurist. Leaving Litchfield, he entered the office of the 
Hon. James Richardson, of Dedbam, where, as they say in London, he 
finished " eating his terms," and was admitted a member of the Norfolk 
bar, in December, 1823. He immediately opened an oflice in Dedham. 
Shakspeare makes the " law's delay " one of the causes of suicide ; but 
if lawyers provoke suicide among their clients, by delaying their suits 
after they are obtained, do not the clients provoke suicide among the 
lawyers first, by delaying to give them the suits ? Mr. Mann's lot in this 
respect was the common one. But absence of business gave opportunity 
for study ; and instead of performing the drudgery of attending to par- 
ticular cases, he expended himself in mastering great principles, which, 
in his subsequent professional life, were always brought to bear with such 
success upon the point in controversy. Before a court or an intelligent 
jury, there is an immense difterence between the method of groping round 
to see where an individual case can lay hold of some great principle for 
support, and that of first giving an im])Osing and instructive exposition 
of great principles, and then applying them to the case in hand. The 
man who has mastered principles, when brought into conflict with one 
who has not, can always think outside of his opponent. 

At length, however, an opportunity was offered to Mr. Mann to display 
his powers as an advocate, and from that time business flowed in in a 
more copious stream, until he left the profession in 1837. 

We believe the records of the courts will show that, during the four- 
teen years of his forensic practice, he gained at least four out of five of 
all the contested cases in which he was engaged. The inflexible rule of 
his professional life was, never to undertake a case that he did not believe 
to be right. He held that an advocate loses his highest power when he 
loses the ever-conscious conviction that hg is contending for the truth ; 



188 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

that though the fees or fame may be a stimulus, yet that a conviction of 
being right is itself creative of power, and renders its possessor more 
than a match for antagonists otherwise greatly his superior. He used to 
say that in this conscious conviction of right there was a magnetism, 
and he only wanted an opportunity to be ji^t i^ communication with a 
jury in order to impregnate them with his own belief. Beyond this, his 
aim always was, before leaving any head or topic in his argument, to 
condense its whole force into a vivid epigrammatic point, which the 
jury could not help remembering when they got into the jury room ; and 
by graphic illustration and simile to fasten pictures upon their minds, 
which they would retain and reproduce after abstruse arguments were 
forgotten. He endeavored to give to each one of the jurors something 
to be " quoted " on his side, when they retired for consultation. He 
argued his cases as though he were in the jury room itself, taking part 
in the deliberations that were to be held there. From the confidence in 
his honesty, and these pictures with which he filled the air of the jury 
room, came his uncommon success. 

In 1824 the citizens of Dedham invited him to ascend the rostrum 
as a fourth of July orator, a low platform to which the friends of young 
men in this country always raise them, that they may have one chance, 
at least, to show their mental stature. In 1826 he delivered a eulogy on 
the deceased presidents, Adams and Jeflferson, who, as everybody will 
remember, died on the 4th of July of that year ; or rather lived till the 4th 
of July ; for had the great anniversary come on the third or second of the 
month, they would doubtless have died on its arrival. They illustrated 
what is undoubtedly true, that life, to some extent, is the subject of 
direct human volition. 

In 1830 Mr. Mann was married to Miss Charlotte, youngest daughter 
of the late Rev. Dr. Messer, for many years President of Brown Uni- 
versity. Than this lady, a lovelier being never gladdened the earth with 
her existence. Moulded in form and in feature after the choicest ideal 
of the painter or the statuary, her person was a fit temple for the spirit 
by whose residence it was hallowed. She was educated in the repose of 
a fixmily circle, over the sunshine of whose domestic affections a cloud 
was never known to pass. She was exuberant in the spontaneous joy 
of a spirit that had never felt an ungenerous or an unwoi'thy emotion. 
Those who had known her longest and best, who had laid their ear 
closest to her heart to listen to the sweet music with which it was for 
ever vocal, all say with one voice, they never heard from it a discordant 
tone. Under no provocation did a word of envy, of rivalry, or of un- 
kindness ever pass from her lips. Her presence was the exorcism of 
evil, and her look, so radiant of purity and loveliness and peace, was not 
an emotion merely, but a sensation of calm and of holy joy. Was this 
boon of heaven unnatural to the earth, that it was so soon withdrawn ? 
She died August 1, 1832, and the celestial light which she had shed 
upon her earthly friends can never be restored until they meet her glori- 
fied spirit in another life. 

The manner in which he was affected by her death shows most strik- 
ingly the depth and strength of his aft'ections. He was then in the prime 
and vigor of manhood, known and admired in the highest circles; but 
he would not be comforted nor weaned from the memory of his lost 



HORACE MANX, OF OHIO. 189 

love. He would work for the living and give them all his strength and 
his talents, but he would give his att'ections to the dead alone. There . 
was something touching in his long loyalty. For years he wore the 
trappings of woe, and when, in conformity to custom, they were laid 
aside, their abandonment betokened no lightening of the shadow within. 
For more than ten years, those who knew him intimately enough to 
divine the cause of the sadness which seldom expressed itself in words, 
could say, in view of his unfading aftection for her whose image was 
fading from the memory of others, 

" Oh ! what are thousand living loves 
To one that will not quit the- dead?" 

In 1843 he married Miss Mary Peabody, in whom he found not onlv 
a most afiectionate and worthy companion, but an earnest assistant and 
sympathizer in all his educational labors. 

We have now spoken of Mr. Mann as a lawyer, but from his entry 
upon the stage of life, he exercised his intluence and exerted his powers 
in so many different fields of labor, that we are obliged, as it were, to 
write several biographies of him ; that is, to go over his life several times, 
collecting different classes of events under distinct heads. 

In 1827 he was elected a representative to the General Couit for the 
town of Dedham. 

We may as well remark here as anywhere, that Mr. Mann was never 
a political partisan. He loved truth better than he loved any party. 
He was not of age to vote until those "piping times of peace " which 
ushered in Mr. Monroe's administi-ation. At tluit period, and for more 
than four years after, he was absent from the State either as student or 
tutor in Providence College ; the succeeding twelve or fifteen montiis he 
spent at Litchfield, Connecticut, at the law school ; so that the first po- 
litical contest in which he ever had an opportunit)^ to take an active 
part was that of Mr. Adams, as President, in 1824. He espoused the 
cause of Mr. Adams, and strenuously defended him against the charges 
of "bargain and corruption," then so vehemently made, now so uni- 
versally disbelieved. Frpm that time Mr. Mann voted for National Re- 
publicans, or Whigs, as they were successively called ; but in his legis- 
lative and subsequent life, always advocated or opposed measures on 
their merits, and without reference to the party which introduced them. 
It is worthy of remark, that among all his speeches and writings, touch- 
ing as they do almost the whole circle of moral, social, and economical 
subjects, not a single partisan speech or ]>artisan newspaper article of 
his is anywhere to be found, and for the best of reasons, for he never 
made or wrote one. 

His first speech in the Massachusetts House of Representatives was 
in favor of religious liberty. For many years, the legislation of Massa- 
chusetts, together with the decisions of the Supreme Court, and a change 
in the Constitution of the State, had tended to put all religious opinions 
on a footing of entire equality before the law. In consequence of these 
events, a scheme had been projected for the creation of estates in a kind 
of mortmain, vesting them in a corporate body of trustees, perpetually 
renewable by itself, — what is called a close corporation, — and limiting the 



190 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

income of the property for ever to the support of a particular creed, or 
set of doctrines. Mr. Mann was too well read in the ecclesiastical history 
of Europe, and especially of England, not to see that this Avas an attempt 
to transfer one of the worst institutions of the dark ages bodily into the 
nineteenth century. He was one of the youngest members of the house ; 
this was his first term. Similar charters of incorporation had been 
granted within the two or three preceding years ; another had been re- 
ported by the appropriate committee, and no token of opposing it had 
been given. Opposition, therefore, might well seem desperate, and an 
attempt to thwart the purposes of the most powerful religious body in 
the State would have been deemed by time-servers an act of useless 
hardihood and recklessness; But to an honest man, conscious of being 
morally, and convinced of being intellectually right, resistance to wrong, 
however formidable the shapes it may assume, is easy. We think up- 
right men often receive undue credit for moral courage. For a thoroughly 
upright man to do right, is the easiest thing in the world. The hard 
thing for him would be to do wrong. Wlien the bill came up, Mr. 
Mann, unexpectedly to every one, arose. In an earnest and solemn 
manner, he laid down the great principles of religious freedom and 
equality, and exposed the injustice of carving out and setting aside any 
portion of the earth, or any portion of tlie property of the earth, and de- 
termining by law what particular religious creed or doctrine that property 
should .be made the instrument of upholding through all future time. 
He showed that it was the very essence of bigotry, in all nations and at 
all times, to ari-est religious progess and petrify religious opinions at the 
point where the bigot haj^pened to find them. The result was decisive. 
Not only was the bill rejected, but no attempt at a similar measure has 
since, at any time, been made in Massachusetts. 

His second eftbrt was a speech in behalf of railroads. A report of 
this was printed in some of the Boston papers, and we believe it was 
the first printed speech made in any legislative body in the United 
States, in behalf of a policy wliich has since worked such wonders for 
the country at large, and has secured to his native State nearly one half 
of its present population, and doubtless quite one half of its present 
wealth. After this speech was made, one of the most prominent of his 
Dedham fellow-citizens wrote several articles for the newspapers against 
Mr. Mann, for having advocated a policy which, as he predicted, would 
be the ruin of the small towns in the vicinity of Boston. Had that gen- 
tleman left Dedham, after writing those articles, to return to it now, he 
would hardly know it, so wonderfully has it advanced in wealth, num- 
bers, and improvement of all kinds, in consequence of the system which 
he condemned, but Mr. Mann's foresight counselled. 

From this time, Mr. Mann became a conspicuous and leading mem- 
ber of the House. He was appointed on many of its principal commit- 
tees (the judiciary, &c.), and took an active part in the discussion of all 
important questions. Especially all matters pertaining to morals, to 
public charities, to education, and whatever involved the principles of 
civil and religious liberty, were sure to find in him a champion always 
ready and earnest. 

His voice was ever raised in behalf of the poor, the ignorant, and the 
Unfortunate classes of society. 



HOKACE MANN, OF OHIO. 191 

lie advocated laws for improving the system of common schools. 
He, more than any other man, was the means of procuring the enact- 
ment 'of what was called the "Fifteen Gallon Law," for the suppression 
of intemperance, — a law which would have effected the work of reform 
in Massachusetts but for the defection of a few pohticians, who sacrificed 
the cause of morality for partisan success. 

He was a member of the committee who reported the resolves which sub- 
sequently resulted in the codification of the statute laws of Massachusetts, 
He took a leading part in preparing and carrying through the law 
whose stringent provisions for a long time, and almost effectually, broke 
up the traffic in lottery tickets. The evils and the abominations of the 
lottery traffic being chiefly of a moral kind, are seen and felt most keenly 
by men of high moral sense, while they escape the notice of those who 
are only technically moral and religious. Hence lotteries are not only 
tolerated in many Christian countries, but openly encouraged ; nay, they 
are managed, or mismanaged, by many governments; and at Rome they 
are publicly drawn with church "'ceremonial and blessing in the presence 
of the deluded crowd of gamblers who fill the square. 

It was against the inm-iorality of this and kindred institutions that Mr, 
Mann has been wont to di'aw from the full armory of his mind the fiery 
bolts of a moral indignation ; for to him immorality is irreligion ; and 
immoral men are the enemies of his God, as well as of his fellow-creatures. 
With this key to his character, one can find the purpose, unseen of many, 
which has animated him in his attacks upon men and lueasures, and 
roused him to deal blows which some have condenmed as severe and 
merciless. It is to be borne in mind that the very eai'nestness and in- 
tensity of nature which have enabled him to build up and establish so 
many good work^, incapacitate him from compromising with wrong, or 
striking softly at wrong doers. Few have ever objected to the_ rigor and 
fire of 1iis onslaught until he happened to attack some pet gratification of 
their own. A c^ilm review of his controversial writings will show that 
he never lost sight of moral principles or stooped to low aims even in 
the heat and excitement of controversy. 

But the act by which Mr. Mann most signalized his legislative life in 
the House of Representatives was the establishment of the State Lunatic 
Hospital of Worcester. This benevolent enterprise was conceived, sus- 
tained, and carried through the House by him alone, against the apathy 
and indifterence of many, and the direct opposition of some prominent 
men. He moved the appointment of the original committee of inquiry, 
and made its report, drew up and reported the resolve for erecting the 
hospital, and his was the only speech made in its favor. 

One of the most distinguished members of the House, a gentleman 
who has since filled one of the most responsible offices in the State, 
spoke of the measure when first introduced as " a project of boyish en- 
thusiasm." j\Ir. Mann was chairman of the committee appointed to 
make the preliminary inquiries. After the law was passed, he was ap- 
pointed chairman of "^ the Board of Commissioners to contract for and 
supermtend the erection of the Hospital. When the buildings were 
completed, in 1833, he was appointed chairman of the Board of Trustees 
for administering the institution, and remained on the Board until rotated 
out of office by the provisions of the law which governed it. 



192 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

The execution of this great Avork ilhistrated those characteristics of 
the subject of this memoir which have signaHzod his life. The novelty 
and costliness of the enterprise demanded boldness. Its motive sprung 
from his benevolence. , Its completion witliout loss or failure illustrated 
his foresight. It vpas arranged that no ardent spirits should ever be 
used on the work, and the whole edifice was completed without accident 
or injury to any workn:an. The expenditure of so large a sum as fifty 
thousand dollars without overrunning appropriations proved his recogni- 
tion of accountability. The selection of so remarkable a man as Dr. 
Woodward for the superintendent showed his knowledge of character. 
And the success which, after twenty years of experience, lias finally 
crowned the work, denotes that highest kind of statesmanship, which 
holds the succor of human wants and the alleviation of human woes to 
be an integral and indispensable, as it is a most economical part of the 
duties of a paternal government. That Hospital has served as a model 
for many similar institutions in other States and countries, which, through 
the benevolent influence of its widely known success, have been erected 
because that was erected. 

At first the Hospital was opposed and its author ridiculed ; but it is 
remarkable that during the many years Mr. Mann was connected with 
it, the Legislature of Massachusetts never refused a single appropriation 
which was asked for by the Trustees in its behalf. 

In claiming this degree of merit for Mr. IMann, we know that injustice 
would be done to his feelings were not great credit given to his coadju- 
tors in the work. Associated with him for erecting and organizing the 
institution, were the Hon. Wm. B. Calhoun of Springfield, and the Hon. 
B. Taft of Uxbridge, gentlemen of the highest character for intelligence 
and wisdom. It must also be admitted that no amoiUit of knowledge, 
prudence, or sagacity, in any supervising board of trustees, could ever 
have given to the institution the elevated rank it has so deservedly lield, 
or enabled it to accomplish the immense amount of good it has achieved, 
without that most remarkable combination of excellences, any one of 
which would have made a reputation for a common man, of which its 
superintendent, Doctor Woodward, was the universally acknowledged 
possessor. 

In 1838, as a token of regard for establishing this hospital. Doctor 
Ray, now superintendent of the Hospital for the Insane at Providence, 
R. I., dedicated his admirable " Treatise on the Medical Jurisprudence 
of Insanity" to Mr, IMann. 

We subjoin a sketch of Mr. Mann's speech in behalf of the resolve 
for establishing the Hospital, which is taken from a contemporary news- 
paper : — 

" Mr. Mann, of Dedham, requested the attention of the House to the 
numbers, condition, and necessities of the insane within this Common- 
wealth, and to the consideration of the means by which their suffei'ings 
might be altogether prevented, or at least assuaged. On reviewing our 
legislation upon this subject, he could not claim for it the praise either 
of pohcy or humanity. In 1816 it was made the duty of the Supreme 
Court, when a grand jury had refused to indict, or the jury of trials to 
convict any person, by reason of his insanity or mental derangement, to 
commit such person to prison, there to be kept until his enlargement 



HORACE MANK, OF OHIO. 193 

should be deemed compatible with the safety of the citizens, or until 
some friend should procure his release by becoming responsible for all 
damages which, in his insanity, he might commit. 

" Had the human mind been tasked to devise a mode of aggravating 
to the utmost the calamities of the insane, a more apt expedient could 
scarcely have been suggested ; or had the earth been searched, places 
more inauspicious to their recovery could scarcely have been found. 

" He cast no reflection upon the keepers of our jails, houses of correc- 
tion, and poor houses, as humane men, when he said, that as a class they 
were eminently disqualified to have the supervision and management of 
the insane. The superintendent of the insane should not only be a hu- 
mane man, but a man of science ; he should not only be a physician, 
but a mental philosopher. An alienated mind should be touched only 
by a skilful hand. Great experience and knowledge were necessary to 
trace the causes that first sent it devious into the wilds of insanity ; to 
counteract the disturbing forces, to restore it again to harmonious ac- 
tion. None of all these requisites could we command under the present 
system. 

" But the place was no less unsuitable than the management. In a 
prison little attention could be bestowed upon the bodily comforts and 
less upon the mental condition of the insane. They are shut out from 
the cheering and healing influences of the external world. They are cut 
off from the kind regaid of society and friends. The construction of 
their cells often debars them from light and air. With fire they cannot be 
trusted. Madness strips them of their clothing. If there be any re- 
cuperative energies of mind, suffering suspends or destroys them, and re- 
covery is placed almost beyond the reach of hope. He affirmed that he 
was not giving an exaggerated account of this wretched class of beings, 
between Avhom and humanity there seemed to be a gulf, which no one 
had as yet crossed to carry them relief. He held in liis hand the evi- 
dence which would sustain all that he had said. 

"From several facts and considerations, he inferred that the whole num- 
ber of insane persons in the State could not be less than 500. Whether 
500 of our fellow-beings, suffering under the bereavement of reason, 
should be longer subjected to the cruel operation of our laws, was a ques- 
tion which no man could answer in the affirmative, who was not himself 
a sufferer under the bereavement of all generous and humane emotions. 
But he would for a moment consider it as a mere question of ■saving and 
expendituie. He would argue it as if human nature knew no symjm- 
thies, as if duty imposed no obligations. And in teaching Avarice a 
lesson of humanity, he would teach it a lesson of economy also. 

"Of the 298 persons returned, IGl are in confinement. Of these, the 
duration of the confinement of 150 is ascertained. It exceeds in the 
aggregate a thousand years ;— a thousand years, during which the 
mind had been sequestered from the ways of knowledge and useful- 
ness, and the heart in all its suflferings inaccessible to the consolations 
of religion. 

"The average expense, Mr. Mann said, of keeping those persons in con- 
finement, could not be less than $2.50 per week, or if friends had fur- 
nished cheaper support, it must have been from some motive besides 
cupidity. Such a length of time, at such a price, would amount to 

VOL. IV. 13 



194 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 



$130,000. And if 150 who are in confinement exhibit an aggregate of 
more than a thousand years of insanity, the 148 at large might be safely 
set down at half that sum, or 500 years. Allowing for these an average 
expense of $1 per week, the sum is |52,000, which added to $130,000 
as above, makes $182,000. Should we add to this $1 per week for all, 
as the sum they might have earned had they been in health, the result 
is $234,000 lost to tlie State by the infliction of this malady alone ; and 
this estimate is predicated only of 298 persons, returned from less than 
half the population of the State. 

" Taking results then, derived from so large an experience, it was not 
too much to say, that more than one half of the cases of insanity were 
susceptible of cure, and that at least one half of the expense now sus- 
tained by the State might be saved by the adoption of a different sys- 
tem of treatment. One fact ought not to be omitted, that those wdio 
suifer under the most sudden and violent access of insanity were most 
easily restored. But such individuals, under our system, are immediately 
subject to all the rigors of confinement, and thus an impassable barrier 
is placed between them and hope. This malady, too, is confined to 
adults almost exclusively. It is then, after all the expense of early edu- 
cation and rearing has been incurred, that their usefulness is terminated. 
But it had pained him to dv/ell so long on these pecuniary details. On 
this subject he was willing that his feelings should dictate to his judg- 
ment and control his interest. There are questions, said he, upon which 
the heart is a better counsellor than the head, — where its plain exposi- 
tions of right encounter and dispel the sophistries of intellect. There 
are sufferers amongst us whom we are able to relieve. If, with our 
abundant means, we hesitate to succor their distress, we may well envy 
thein their incapacity to commit crime. 

" But let us reflect, that while we delay they sufi'er. Another year not 
only gives an accession to their numbers, but removes, perhaps to a re- 
turnless distance, the chance of their recovery. Whatever they endure, 
which we can prevent, is virtually inflicted by our own hands. Let us 
restore them to the enjoyment of the exalted capacities of intellect and 
virtue. Let us draw aside the dark curtain which hides from their eyes 
the wisdom and beauty of the universe. The appropriation proposed 
was small — it was for such a charity insignificant. Who is there, he 
demanded, that, beholding all this remediable misery on one hand, and 
looking, on the other, to that paltry sum which would constitute his 
proportion of the expense, could pocket the money, and leave the victims 
to their sufterings? How many thousands do we devote annually to the 
cultivation of mind in our schools and colleges ; and shall we do nothing 
to reclaim that mind when it has been lost to all its noblest prerogatives t 
Could the victims of insanity themselves come up before us, and find a 
lanofuaffe to reveal their historv, who could hear them unmoved ? But 
to me, said Mr. Mann, the a[)peal is stronger, because the)/ are unable to 
make it. Over his feelings, their imbecility assumed the form of irre- 
sistible power. No eloquence could persuade like their heedless silence. 
It is now, said he, in the power of the members of this House to exercise 
their highest privileges as men, their most enviable functions as legis- 
lators ; to become protectors to the wretched, and benefactors to the 
miserable." 



HORACE MANN, OF OHIO. 195 

Mr. Mann continued to be returned by large majorities as a repre- 
sentative from Dedliam, until the year 1833, when he removed to Bos- 
ton, and entered into partnership in the practice of law with the Hon. 
Edward G. Loring. But his legislative duties were not at an end. At 
the very first election after liis becoming a citizen of Boston he was 
chosen a senator from the county of Sufiblk to the State Senate. By 
re-elections he was continued in the Senate for four years. In 1836 
that body elected him its President; and again in 1837, in which year 
he retired from political life. 

During the four years he was a member of the Senate, his name con- 
tinued to be connected with all reformatory movements, and with almost 
every etibrt, whether legislative or social, for ameliorating the condition 
of men. 

The report of the Commissioners for codifying the statute law of 
Massachusetts, which originated in the recommendation of a committee 
of the House of which he was a member, as before stated, was made 
in 1835, but before being finally acted upon, it was deemed advisable 
that it should ])ass under the hands of a joint legislative committee. 
Of this committee Mr. Manu was a member, and for a portion of the 
tin:e chairman. This committee made many important modifications 
of the commissioners' report^ and it is no disparagement to the valuable 
contributions made by others, to say, that a large number of most salu- 
tary provisions were incorporated into the code at his suggestion. In 
particular, that grand provision which distinguishes between poor debtors 
and fraudulent debtors was drawn up by him, and its views sustained in 
a long and elaborate report, which first offered the true solution of the 
long vexed question respecting " poor debtors," by providing certain tan- 
gible means and tests for distinguishing between the honest and the dis- 
honest debtor, punishing the latter, but rescuing the former from the 
arbitrary power of his creditor. 

At his procurement also the provisions were introduced by which 
" any person who shall be guilty of the crime of drunkenness by the 
voluntary use of intoxicating liquors" is punishable, and by Avhich the 
public execution of criminals was abolished. 

We suppose this to have been the first time that voluntary drunken- 
ness was ever called a crime, in the statute laws of England or America. 

After the " Revised Statutes," as they were called, had been enacted, 
Mr. Mann was associated, by a legislative resolve, with the Hon. Thomas 
Metcalf, now Judge Metcalf of the Supreme Court, to edit the work. 
It is understood that Mr. Metcalf prepared the index to the code, Mr. 
Mann the marginal notes and the references to judicial decisions. Other 
editorial duties were performed by them in common. 
, While a member of the Senate, he reported and sustained the bill for 
the enlargement of the Worcester Hospital ; and while its presiding offi- 
cer, he several times left the chair to take part in the debates of that 
body. The two most important occasions were the jmssage of the bill 
for incorporating the Western Railroad Company, and loaning the credit 
of the State for the work, and a bill to improve the common schools of 
the State by increasing the amount of money to be raised for their sup- 
port. Of course, he spoke in the affirmative on both these measures. 

In 1837, Mr. Mann left political and professional life to enter upon a 



196 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

new and more congenial sphere of labor. In bringing this portion of his 
history to a close, it may be remarked, that though he was on many of 
the most important committees, and often chairman of them, and though 
few, if any, ever originated more projects for amending the laws, for pro- 
moting the pecuniary prosperity or ameliorating the condition of society, 
yet he never failed to carry through a single measure which he under- 
took. He saw effects in causes. He was cautious in the inception of 
measures ; but, once undertaken, he was earnest and invincible in their 
support. 

While a member of the House, he was for a time Judge Advocate in 
the militia. This fact is worthy of notice only because he officiated 
during the trial of Lieut. Col. Winthrop — a trial which attracted no in- 
considerable attention at the time. It lasted thirty days. The published 
proceedings of the court filled a large octavo volume, and they contain 
several elaborate opinions of Mr. Mann, on broad legal and constitu- 
tional questions, which, considering his age Vi'hen they were written, have 
been thought remarkable. 

In sketching his legislative career, we have noticed only incidentally 
his connection with the causes of temperance and education. Having 
been brought up where ardent spirits were comnionly used as a beverage, 
and universally esteemed a luxury, he has often been heard to say that 
" he and all his playmates were educated to become drunkards." " Many 
of them," he added, " became so ; and such was the imminence of my 
own peril, that when I look back to my early life, I feel like a soldier 
coming out of battle who puts his hand up to his head to see if it is on." 

When he commenced the student's life, he found that ardent spirits, 
though taken in the most moderate quantities, and far within the limits 
which custom then allowed to sober men, impaired his power of mental 
application. This was an intimation of duty which Heaven made through 
the laws of his organization, and he therefore abstained. For a number 
of years he drank wine occasionally, but never as a habit ; and now for 
many years past he has discarded, not only wine, but even tea and cof- 
fee, using heaven's " pure element " alone, to the incalculable benefit of 
his own powers as a working man, and of his life as an example. May 
not these facts be presumed to have suggested the following passage in 
his Lecture to Young Men ? — 

" Such a young man reverences the divine skill and wisdom by which 
his physical frame has been so fearfully and wonderfully inade ; and he 
keeps it pure and clean, as a fit temple for the living God. For evo-jj in- 
dulgence of appetite that would enervate the body, or dull the keen sense, 
or cloud the luminous brain, he has a ' Get thee behind me .f so stern and 
deep, that the balked Satans of temptation shrink from before him in 
shame and dexjMir.'' " 

Soon after he became a resident in Dedham, its citizens formed a large 
and most respectable temperance society. He was elected its president, 
and wrote a vigorous address to the public in behalf of its object. When 
first chosen a representative to the General Court, he broke in upon the 
habit, until then uniform in that town, of "treating" the electors after 
the election was over ; but lest his conduct should seem to spring from 
improper motives, he gave for charitable purposes a larger sum than the 
" treating " would have cost. 



HORACE MANN, OF OHIO. 197 



Thus, in various ways, and on all suitable occasions, he manifested his 
zeal in this cause at a time when its advocacy incurred reproacli, obloquy, 
and tlie loss of professional business; and wlien, in June, 1837, he ac- 
cepted the office of Secretary of the Board of Education, he was a mem- 
ber of the " Council of the Massachusetts State Temperance Society," 
and President of tlie " Suffolk County Temperance Society." These 
offices were then resigned, so that, wholly unincumbei-ed by other things, 
he might bear tlie weight of the harness he was about to put on, and 
wield the weapons of the new warfare in which he had engao-ed. 

We believe it will be found almost universally true, in regard to men 
who have'distinguished themselves in any particular department, that they 
gave early indications of their ultimate eminence. In the moral, no 
more than in the natural world, does the fruit come without the bud and 
the flowering. An impulse derived from nature or from education, starts 
and grows in the deep recesses of the soul. For a time, it may be nursed 
in secret, now and then throwing out signs of its gathering force. But 
when the time and the occasion come, it bursts forth, full orbed and com- 
plete, with the helmet on its head and the sword by its side, panting for 
the battle. 

Such seems to have been the case with Mr. Mann in regard to popular 
education. From the earliest day when his actions became publicly no- 
ticeable, universal education, through the instrumentality of free public 
schools, was commended by his words and promoted by his acts. Its ad- 
vocacy was a golden thread woven into all the texture of his writings 
and his life. One of his eai'liest addresses was a discourse before a county 
association of teachers, almost all of whom were older than himself, and 
many of whom might have been his parent or grandparent. After he 
entered the profession of law, it was his invariable practice to give legal 
advice and to prepare legal papers gratuitously, on all matters pertaining 
to public education.* 

When he became Secretary of the Board of Education, he was for 
twelve years a kind of Attorney-General for the State in regard to school 
law ; and since he left that office, so numerous are the applications made 
to him for professional advice, that, were he to charge the common fees 
of a counsellor, they would amount to no inconsiderable income. While 
other aspiring young men were writing political articles for the news- 
papers, he was writing educational ones. lie aided the poor to acquire 
knowledge, loaned them books and pecuniary means, and trusted to 
their future ability to earn and repay. When practicable, he gave gra- 
tuitous instruction. As soon as eligible, he was chosen a member of the 
Superintending School Committee of Dedham, and continued to fill the 
office until he left the place, — an office in that large town of great labor, 



* In a letter of his which, by accident, we have just seen, dated Washington, 
Dec. 19, 1851, not intended for publication, but which has been published in con- 
sequence of some legal proceedings, we find the following: "You ask me to for- 
ward mj bill for my opinion. My dear sir, such has always been my interest in 
schools, that from the first day I opened a law oflice to tlie jiresent time, though 
1 have probably given more legal opinions on school matters than any other fifty 
men in tlie Statie, yet I have never charged a cent for one of them; and 1 think 
it is now rather too late to begin." 



198 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS, 

and then without any reimbursement even of its necessaiy expenses. 
There he began his lessons in the very diflBcult art of addressing cbildreUo 
With all his knowledge, whenever he arose to speak to the young, he 
became " as one of these little ones." Hence his success before the 
young, which is thought by those who have heard him to be more 
remarkable than his power of addressing men/' 

In the General Court, he was always on the side of schools, advocating 
them in debate, and still more actively seeking occasions to converse 
with members and to ingraft his ideas upon their minds. He did not 
care who had the merit of proposing a good measure, he had his reward 
in seeing it carried. 

In his " Reply" to the Thirty-one Boston Schoolmasters, written in 1844, 
the following account is given of the establishment of the Board, and of 
the appointment of himself as its Secretary, which we prefer to copy here 
because it has long since passed into history, and its correctness has 
never been questioned : — 

" It was," says he, " at this point in my personal history, that the plan 
of a Board of Education as now established was projected. After many 
private conferences with an honorable friend of mine (Mr. Dvvight), who 
has since evinced the sincerity of his attachment to this cause, a meeting 
was called at his house in the winter of 183*7, to consider the subject of 
a Board of Education for the State, I need not recite details. The 
Board of Education was established by Act of April 20tli of that year. 
Previous to and at that time, the suggestion had never been made to me, 
nor had the idea ever arisen in my own mind, that I should be appointed 
to the office I now hold. When that proposition was first made, though 
all the affinities of my nature leaped out towards it, yet I thought it to 
be forbidden by insurmountable circumstances. But at the organization 
of the Board, June 29, 1837, I was elected its Secretary. ... I 
humbly hoped that while other fiiends of the cause were contributing of 
their abundance, I might, in this way, cast my mite into the treasury of 
the Lord." 

The truth was, that on casting about for an appointee, the Board found 
but few who would accept the office of Secretary, which was to be poorly 
requited by pecuniary remuneration (its salary at first was but one 
thousand dollars), and promised to be so thankless in social rewards. At 
the first election there was one other candidate, and Mr. Mann was not 
chosen unanimously ; but for the next eleven years he was annually 
re-elected to the same office, and each time it is believed by a unanimous 
vote of the Board.f 



* If any one wishes to see a speciiuen of his skill in addressing children, let him 
read the letter to the children of Chautauque county, N. Y. See Common School 
Journal, vol. ix., p. 1*7. 

f The late Hon. Edward Dwight, who was an early and generous friend and 
promoter of the caiise, in 1838 gave ten thousand dollars towards establishing the 
Normal Schools. Aftei'wards, in ] 845, he gave a thousand dollars towards defray- 
ing the expenses of the first Teachers' Institute ever held in Massachusetts, an 
experiment so successful that the Legislature at its next session made a grant for 
the same purpose, which is still continued. Mr. Dwight's heart and purse were 
open to appreciate the teacher's wortli and to contribute for his encouragement. 



HORACE MANN, OF OHIO. 199 

Mr. Mann accepted the office ajrainst the advice and persuasion of 
ahiiost his whole circle of friends. His more intimate associates dissuaded 
liim from a field which promised neither honor nor emolument. His 
political supporters assured him that higher offices in the gift of the 
people might already be seen looming up in the distance and beckoning 
his approach. The judges of the courts before whom he practised 
expressed surprise that the pursuit of the distinctions and emoluments of 
the profession should be abandoned just at the period when they might 
be won. But though he could not answer their arguments, he had an 
instinct which was surer than the conclusions of logic. A strong pur- 
pose, both of the higher sentunents and the intellect, is a voice of 
prophecy. Where this voice is clear, all dissuasives, all threats, all 
allurements in other directions become sounds in an unknown tongue, 
for the inspired heart cannot understand them. He saw that the pro- 
posed work involved all the elements of true greatness. Education was 
the condition precedent of all human welfare. It is the vital element 
without which thei'e can be no life. The dignity and powei' of indi- 
viduals, the grandeur of nations so far as human agency is concerned, 
have no other enduring basis. AVithout education, the attributes of God 
cannot be known, and therefore cannot be aspired to ; the infinite calami- 
ties of evil and sin cannot be comprehended, and therefore will not be 
resisted ; the degrading vassalage of superstition cannot be understood, 
and therefore its reign will never be abolished. He saw in an enlight- 
ened education peace, glory, and life, the only atmosphere in which true 
Christianity can flourish ; and he trusted that through all the hours of 
present darkness and toil, the light that shines out of the future would 
warm and illumine his course. Among all his acquaintances there was 
but one man who fully appreciated the motives of his choice, and ten- 
dered him a hearty congratulation.*" 

* The late Dr. William Ellery Clianning, who wrote him the following letter : 

New York, Aug. 19, 1837. 

My Dear Sir, — I understand that you have given yourself to the cause of edu- 
cation in our commonwealth. I rejoice in it. Kothing could give me greater 
pleasure. I have long desired that some one uniting all your qualifications 
should devote himself to this work. You could not iind a nobler station. Govern- 
ment has no nobler one to give. You must allow me to labor under you accord- 
ing to my opportunities. If at any time I can aid you, you must let me know, 
and 1 shall be glad to converse with you always about your operations. When 
will tlie low degrading party quarrels of the country cease, and the better mind.^ 
come to think what can be done towards a substantial, generous improvement of 
the communit}' J "My ear is pained, my very soiil is sick" with the monotonous 
yet furious clamors about currency, banks, &c., when the .sjiiritual interests of the 
community seem hardlj' to be I'ecognised as having any reality. 

If we can but turn the wonderful energy of this people into a right channel, 
what a new heaven and earth must be realized among us ! And I do not de- 
spair. Your willingness to consecrate yourself to the work is a happy omen. 
You do not stand alone, or form a rare exception to the times. There must be 
many to be touched by the same truths which are stirring you. 

My hope is that the pursuit will give you new vigor and health. If you can 
keep strong outwardly, I have no fear about the efficiency of the spirit. I write 
in haste, for I am not very strong, and any effort exhausts me, but I wanted to 
express my sympathy, and to wish you God speed on your way. 

Your sincere friend, Wm. E. Cuanning. 

See Dr. Channing's Memoirs, vol. iii., p. 89. 



200 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICAN?. 

The duties of the Secretary were not defined with any minuteness in 
the Act which created the office, nor was it possible that they should 
be. The Legislature or the Board, indeed, might say that the Secretary 
should hold school conventions in every county in the State. But should 
he go into those conventions as a "dead-head," or as a " tongue of 
flame"? They might say he should call teachers together periodically 
at institutes for instruction. But should he teach them and inspire them 
with undying power when they assembled ; or should he sit idly by and 
employ others to do the work ? They might say he should prepare 
" abstracts of the school committee reports ;" but should he study the 
whole body of these documents, and then prepare a volume of four 
hundred or five hundred pages, or should he take at random some forty 
or fifty short extracts and give them the required heading ? They might 
require him to make an annual report ; but a pop-gun makes a " report" 
as well as a jaark of artillery. In fine, it was impossible for law or order 
to prevent an incumbent from growing fat and sleek in this office. 
Nothing but the indwelling spirit of duty and enthusiasm could se- 
cure from its incumbent the utmost quantit}^ and the highest quality of 
service. 

No member of the Board had any salary, and they were not appointed 
for hard work. They were to counsel and advise beforehand, and, as far 
as practicable, to ratify and sanction afterwards. When some one asked 
Mr. Mann if he were not the fac-totum of the Board, he replied that he 
was the fac but not the totum. 

Immediately on accepting the office, Mr. Mann withdrew from all other 
professional and business engagements whatever, that no vocation but the 
new one might burden his hands or obtrude upon his contemplations. 
He transferred his law business then pending, declined re-election to the 
Senate, and — the only thing that cost him a regret — resigned his offices 
and his active connection with the difterent temperance organizations. 
He abstracted himself entirely from political parties, and for twelve 
years never attended a political caucus or convention of any kind. He 
resolved to be seen and known only as an educationist. Though sympa- 
thizing as much as ever with the refoi'ms of the day, he knew how fatally 
obnoxious they were to Avhole classes of people whom he wished to 
influence for good ; and as he could not do all things at once, he sought 
to do the best things, and those which lay in the immediate path of his 
duty, first. Men's minds, too, at that time were so fired with partisan 
zeal on various subjects, that great jealousy existed lest the interest of 
some other cause should be subserved under the guise of a regard for 
education. Nor could vulgar and bigoted persons comprehend why a 
man should drop from an honorable and exalted station into comparative 
obscurity, and from a handsome income to a mere subsistence, unless 
actuated by some vulgar and bigoted motive like their own. Subsequent 
events proved the wisdom of his course. The Board was soon assailed 
with violence by political partisans, by anti-temperance demagogues, 
and other bigots after their kind, and nothing but the impossibility of 
fastening any pui'pose upon its Secretary save absolute devotion to his 
duty saved it from wreck. During a twelve years' period of service, no 
opponent of the cause or of Mr. Mann's views in conducting it was ever 
able to specify a single instance in which he had prostituted or perverted 



HORACE MANN, OF OHIO. 201 

the influeuce of his office for any personal, partisan, or collateral end 
whatever. 

It is obvious on a moment's reflection that few works ever undertaken 
by man had relations so numerous, or touched society at so many points, 
and those so sensitive, as those in which Mr. Mann was now engaged. 
The various religious denominations were all turned into eyes, each to 
watch against encroachments upon itself, or favoritism towards others. 
Sordid men anticipated the expenditures incident to improvement. Many 
teachers of private schools foresaw that any change for the better in the 
public schools would withdraw patronage from their own ; though to 
their honor it must be said that the cause of public education had no 
better friends than many private teiichers proved themselves to be. But 
hundreds and hundreds of wretchedly poor and incompetent teachers 
knew full well that the daylight of educational intelligence would be to 
them what the morninir dawn is to niuht birds. Book-makers and book- 
sellers were jealous of interference in behalf of rivals ; and where there 
were twenty competitors of a kind, Hope was but a fraction of one twen- 
tieth, while Fear was a unit. Mr. Mann for many years had filled im- 
portant political offices; and if political opponents could not find any- 
thino" wronof in what he was doinc', it was the easiest of .all things to 
foresee something wrong that he would do. Many persons who have 
some conscience in their statements about the past, have none in their 
predictions about the future. And however different or contradictory 
might be the motives of opposition, all opponents would coalesce ; while 
the friends of the enterprise, though animated by a common desire for 
its advancement, were often alienated from each other through disagree- 
ment as to methods. There was also the spirit of conservatism to be 
overcome ; and more formidable by far than this, the spirit of pride on 
the part of some in the then existing condition of the schools — a pride 
which had been fostered for a century among the people, not because 
their school system was as good as it should and might be, but because 
it was so much better than that of neio'hborino- communities. And be- 
sides all this, it was impossible to excite any such enthusiasm for a cause 
Avhose liighest rewards lie in the remote future, as for one where the in- 
vestment of means or efforts is to be refunded with heavy usury at the 
next anniversary or quarter-day. Then questions respecting the education 
of a whole people touched the whole people. Politics, commerce, manu- 
factures, agriculture, are class interests. Each one is but a segment of 
the great social cii'cle. While the few engaged in a single pursuit may 
be intensely excited, the great majority around may be in a state of qui- 
escence or indilference. But so far as education is regarded at all, it is 
a problem which everybody undertakes to solve ; and hence ten thousand 
censors rise up in a day. It is an object not too low to be noticed by 
the highest, nor too high to be adjudicated upon by the lowest. Do not 
these considerations show the multifarious relations of the cause to the 
community at large, and to the interests and hopes of each of its classes? 
And now consider the things indispensable to be done to superinduce a 
vigorous system upon a decrepit one, — changes in the law, new organi- 
zations of territory into districts, the building of school-houses, classifica- 
tion of scholars, supervision of schools, improvements in books, in methods 
of teaching, and in the motives and ways of discipline, qualifications of 



202 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

teachers, the collectiou of statistics, the necessary exposure of defects and 
of mal-administration, &c. &c., — and we can form some more adequate 
idea of the wide circuit of the work undertaken, and of the vast variety 
of the details which it comprehends. 

A more pohtic or less earnest man would have begun gradually, and 
stolen upon the public by degrees. Mr. Mann laid his hand upon every- 
thing at once, — upon the abuses to be corrected, the deficiencies to be 
supplied, and the reforms to be begun. His first Report, and his first 
address or lecture, both written within the first six months after his ap- 
pointment, foreshadowed everything that has since been accomplished. 
They were thouglit to be somewhat remarkable productions at the time ; 
we think they will be regarded as much more remarkable, if examined 
now in the light of sixteen years of experience. The very boldness of 
his first strokes was the salvation of himself and of all concerned. A 
less adventurous course would have been ruinous. Special interests were, 
indeed, alarmed, but the malcontents were silenced by the resounding 
voice of the hopes he awakened. A holy chord of the public heart had 
been touched, and the contemplation of gi'eat principles enfranchised the 
mind from sordid motives. When the carol of the ascending lark turns 
all eyes heavenward, the cry and flutter of owls and bats are no longer 
heeded. He followed vip his victory. His object was to commit the 
State to great measures of reform and progress before the day of reaction 
should come. Extensive changes in the law were pj'oposed and carried. 
Union schools were provided for. School committees were paid. A 
system of county educational conventions was instituted. By means of 
" School Registers," a far-reaching plan was adopted to look mici-oseopi- 
cally into the condition of the schools, and ascertain what may be called 
their " vital statistics." The school committees were required to make 
" detailed reports " respecting the good and the evil of their respective 
schools ; and from the whole body of these reports " abstracts " were 
made with immense labor on the part of the Secretary, but with immense 
benefit also to the cause. Above all, the normal schools were established, 
first under the plea of being an experiment ; but long before that hold 
was released, they made a gi'asp upon the public good will, by success 
achieved and benefits bestowed, which has now incorporated them among 
the permanent and most valued institutions of the State. 

All these instrumentalities were so many anchors with which the 
Seci'etary provided his vessel while the weather was yet calm, and by 
which he was enabled to ride out the storm, when at length it arose. 
After three or four years (the very time predicted by the Secretary at 
the outset of his career), the various antagonisms to progress which were 
too weak to efi'ect anything separately combined their forces, and under 
an unscrupulous leader were clandestirely marshalled for the assault. The 
miser began to feel literally "to his cost" the advance of the system.* 
The book-maker who had sought in vain to make the Board or its Secre- 



* During the ten years after Mr. Mann's Report on School-houses was pre- 
sented to the Legislature, the sums raised by tlie self-taxation of the several dis- 
tricts, towns, and cities in the State, and expended for tlie building or repairing of 
school-houses alone, was two million, two hundred thousand dollars. 



HORACE MANN, OF OHIO. 203 

taiy subserve bis private interests, could no longer discern any public, 
reason for tbcir existence. The sectarian who wished to turn the schools 
into proselyting agencies to stamp bis dogmas upon the youthful mmd, 
was otTended b^eca'lise be was balkfd. All these, joined with the nameless 
tribe who always think the world is coming to an end unless regulated 
according to their plan, combined their forces for the extermination ot 
the Boai'd. The attack was made in the Legislature of 1840. A majority 
of the Committee on Education sprang a bill upon the House for the 
abolition of the Board, the discontinuance of the normal schools, and 
for setting things back to the point from which they had started three 
years before. The scheme was unknown even to the minority of the 
Committee, who were friends of the Board, until a few hours before the 
report was made. They sought for time to present a counter report, 
but it was refused, first by the'Committee. and afterwards by a majority 
of the House. The plot was to choke otf all discussion, and drive the 
bill tlirough the House without delay or debate. But the first hour of 
notice enabled the Secretary and his friends to gain a day ; with that day 
they gained a week; and' with the week they defeated the measure. 
How ditferent now would have been the condition of the public schools, 
not only in Massachusetts, but in New England— not only in New Eng- 
land, but throughout the country— had that machination been crowned 
with success ! . 

It is not our purpose to dwell at length upon the two or three formi- 
dable controversies in which Mr. Manu'was engaged in defence of the 
cause of education, or of himself as identified with that cause. We 
shall consult his feelings far better by practising upon the sentiment of 
Cicero, which was always his favorite motto, "■Amicltice sempiterncc, im- 
micifm placabiles^' let friendships be eternal, and all enmities be appeased. 
His former adversaries too will rejoice if we give but the brietest ac- 
count of the warfare they waged, or of the blows they received. Mr. 
Mann certainly does not belong to the sect of non-resistants ; we think 
he rather followed the counsels of Polonius : 

" Beware 
Of entrance to a quarrel ; but being in, 
Bear it that the opi>oser may beware of thee." 

Always forbearing to the last, he adopted Gen. Washington's advice 
that we should wait until our adversary has put himself clearly in the 
wrong. His uniform course was, when attacked in a way that threat- 
ened ^injury to the cause, or to himself as its representative, to seek a 
personal interview with the assailant, or to write a private and concilia- 
tory letter, offering explanation and deprecating contest ; and thus he 
crushed many an Qgg before the young adders were hatched. Two prin- 
ciples governed his conduct in relation to all public attacks made upon 
him : first, he never noticed such as were merely personal, accusing him 
of want of ability, and so fbrth, but only such as were aimed directly at 
the cause intrusted to his care, or to him as its administrator •, and 
second, the retributions he inflicted always had reference to the future, 
and were designed to prevent further injury or the repetition of ^rong, 
and were never mere punishment for past misdeeds, however well de- 



204 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS' 

served. We challenge bis most watchful enemy to cite a single instance 
where he enforced redress or demanded it, either when no injury had 
been done by an attack upon him, or when the injury done was remedi- 
less. Though ever so much personally wronged, yet as a revival of the past 
could effect no good for the future, he facilitated its descent to oblivion. 

With these remarks we can abbreviate the history of Mr. Mann's con- 
troversies into a very few lines. 

In 1843, under the auspices of the Board of Education (but at his 
own private expense), Mr. Mann visited Europe, to examine schools, and 
to obtain any such information as could be made available at home. 
His Seventh Annual Report, made on his return, embodied the results of 
this tour. Probably no educational document ever had so wide a circu- 
lation as this Report. Edition after edition of it was printed, not only 
in Massachusetts, but in different States of the Union, sometimes by order 
of State Legislatures, sometimes by private individuals. Sevei'al editions 
were printed in England. It was largely copied into newspapers every- 
where. It was matter of great surprise, therefore, that the first question- 
ing of its facts and criticism of its doctrines should be made in Boston. 
But in the autumn of 1844, a pamphlet of one hundred and forty-four 
pages appeared, entitled "Remarks on the Seventh Annual Report of the 
Hon. Horace Mann," &c., beaiiug the name of thirty-one of the Boston 
schoolmasters, contesting several of the facts, and impugning some of 
the views, especially on the subject of school discipline, set forth in that 
report. To this Mr. Mann immediately replied in a pamphlet of 176 
pages, entitled " Reply to the ' Remarks' of Thirty-one Boston Schoolmas- 
ters," &c. In May following, a portion of the above masters rejoined in 
another pamphlet of 215 pages; and in July following, Mr. Mann re- 
plied in a pamphlet of 124 pages, which closed the controversy. From 
various independent sources the facts averred by Mr. Mann, and ques- 
tioned by his opponents, have been since irrefragably proved ; and in 
regard to the soundness of his views on discipline, or corporal punish- 
ment, the Boston masters became the agents of their own reformation ; 
for when the merits of the question were publicly discussed, the commu- 
nity compelled them to conform in practice to the doctrines they had as- 
sailed. Other controversialists may have been as thoroughly vanquished 
in argument, but it is rare to see a body of assailants compelled not 
merely to abandon their own grounds of argument, but to conform their 
practice to the views of the party they had attacked. 
. In 1844, an individual of some prominence made an anonymous attack 
through the newspaper organ of a religious sect upon Mr. Mann, and 
upon the Board of Education, charging them, in substance, with being 
irreligionists or infidels. To this Mr. J^Iann replied at length through 
the same paper. A rejoinder followed ; but when Mr. Mann offered a 
reply to this, the paper (the " Christian Witness and Church Advocate"), 
which had opened its columns to the attack, now closed them against the 
defence. It was therefore published in another paper. As the controversy 
embraced the question of the connection of public schools with religious 
teaching, it excited a great deal of public attention, and many of the 
leading-papers in the State contained articles upon it. These were after- 
wards collected, and published in a pamphlet entitled " Common School 
Controversy," &c., &c. The whole affair redounded greatly to the credit 



HORACE MANN, OF OHIO. 205 

of Mr. Mann, and of the Board. While the importance of rehgious in- 
struction in the schools was ably maintained, the freedom of all systems 
of public schools from sectarianism was unanswerably vindicated. 

The only other noteworthy controversy in which Mr. Mann was en- 
gaged during his secretaryship, was with a clergyman of various reputa- 
tion, between whom and himself there jiassed several pamphlet letters, in 
1846-47. Of the utter demolition of this assailant, the public entertained 
but one opinion. 

This was the last attempt ever made to subvert the Board, its Secre- 
tary, or the normal schools. Like oaks under storms, their roots struck 
deeper and grappled stronger, with every blast that threatened to over- 
throw them. 

It may be mentioned, as characteristic of Mr. IMann, that during all 
these controversies, he never wrote or published an anonymous article 
against his opponents. Though often assailed by enemies in ambush, he 
never skulked behind a fictitious signature to reply, but always presented 
himself under his own name as a fair mark for their arrows. 

Of Mr. Mann's labors, during the twelve years of his secretaryship, it 
is difficult to speak without the appearance of exaggeration. Some of 
the products, however, are before us. He wrote twelve long Annual Re- 
ports, of one of which — the tenth — the Edinburgh Review says, " This 
volume is indeed a noble monument of a civilized people ; and if America 
were sunk beneath the waves, would remain the fairest picture on record 
of an Ideal Commonwealth !" From an immense mass of documents, he 
prepared eleven Abstracts of the Massachusetts School Reportsand Returns, 
six of which are large octavo volumes in fine print. The statistical part 
of the school abstracts were formerly made up in the office of the Secre- 
tary of State, and three months was the usual allowance of time made 
to a clerk for executing the task. By the law establishing the Board of 
Education, this work was transferred to its Secretary. Mr. Mann made 
up the first one in the nights of four weeks, after his laboi'ious c/i/y*' work 
had been done ; and none can appreciate what those days' works were 
who did not occasionally obtain a view of the thousands of pages of al- 
most illegible and bad-spelled manuscripts from which he cumpiled his 
abstracts. The Common School Journal, which he edited, and a large 
portion of whose contents is from his pen, consists of ten volumes octavo. 
He published a volume of Lectures on Education, at the request of the 
Board. He travelled over the State every year (except the year when he 
visited Europe), to hold conventions or Teachers' Institutes. He often 
taught at the Institutes all day (sometimes alone), and then li?ctured to 
the people at large in the evening, thus instructing in the dift'erent com- 
mon school branches, and in the methods of instruction also, unaided and 
alone. His correspondence amounted to more than all his other writings, 
and was carried on more or less with all parts of this country, and with 
the more enlightened nations of Europe. This was exceedingly volumi- 
nous, and has amounted to thii-ty letters in a day. Always giving legal 
advice in regard to schools gratuitously, he was called upon in all cases 
of doubt or difficulty; and we believe his legal opinions, when the cases 
on which they were given have been afterwards brought before the 
courts, have been invariably sustained. He superintended the erection of 
two State normal school-houses, and has drawn plans and given direc- 



206 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

tions for hundreds of others, adapted, in regard to size and expense, to 
the wants and abilities of diiferent localities. He often attended educa- 
tional meetings in other States, to extend the cause and breathe enthu- 
siasm into its friends ; and he always considered it a part of his official 
ns well as his social duty to receive and entertain all visitors, who came 
on any errand pertaining to the great work in which he was engaged. 
Well might he say, as he did in his Supplementary Report, in 1848, that, 
" from the time when I accepted the Secretaryship, in June, 1837, until 
May, 1848, when I tendered my resignation of it, I labored, in this cause, 
an average of not less than fifteen hours a day ; that, from the beginning 
to the end of this period, I never took a single day for relaxation, and 
that months and months together passed without my withdrawing a single 
evening from working hours, to call upon a friend. My whole time was 
devoted, if not wisely, yet continuously and cheerfully, to the great trust 
confided to my hands." 

Only in a single instance was any public appointment made by him 
during this whole period unfulfilled, and in that case his physician for- 
bade his rising from a sick-bed to meet it. 

Of the results of these labors, the educational world seems to liave 
settled down into a clear and unanimous opinion. The labors were great, 
but they brought forth " an hundred fold." Compare the schools of Mas- 
sachusetts with what they were in 1837, and it will be seen that order 
has been educed from chaos, vigor substituted for debility, and that a 
high degree of intelligence in educational processes has succeeded to a 
lamentable ignorance. Nor have the beneficent results of these labors 
been (confined to Massachusetts. Most of the free States have followed 
in the march of improvement, and several of the slave States have en- 
deavored to imitate the example ; but, alas ! with their institutions such 
a result is impossible. Many of Mr. Mann's Reports have been repub- 
lished in this country and in England. His opinions are cited as author- 
ity in the Legislatures of the Union and in the British Parliament, and 
quoted in Reviews and in standard educational works. " It was my for- 
tune," said the Hon. Anson Burlingame, in a public speech lately made, 
" to be, some time since, in Guildhall, London, when a debate was going 
on. The question was, whether they should instruct their representative 
in favor of secular education. They voted they would not do it. But 
a gentleman then rose and read some statistics from one of the Reports 
of Horace Mann. That extract reversed the vote in the Common Coun- 
cil of London. I never felt prouder of my country." 

It might be supposed that one of Mr. Mann's energy and fervor would 
sometimes commit himself to measures whose soundness would not be 
ratified by results ; and that, occasionally at least, he might find it ne- 
cessary to retrace his steps. But it is a remarkable fact, that neither in 
his legislative life, which covered a period of ten years, nor during his 
secretaryship, covering a period of twelve years, did he ever propose a 
single measure which he did not carry through, or ever carry one through 
which, upon trial, it was found necessary to abandon. Whether in coun- 
selling and in executing plans for revising the whole civil code of a State, 
in erecting and administering a hospital for the insane, in establishing 
normal schools, or in projecting comprehensive measures for renovating 
the common school system of a commonwealth, prosperity and success, 



HORACE MANN, OF OHIO. 207 

in every instance, attended, his exertions. Finis coronal opus may be 
written at the end of all his enterprises. 

In one of the darkest and most perilous houi's of his secretaryship, a 
proposition was made to him to accept the presidency of a college at the 
West, with a salary of $3000 a year, besides the perquisites of house, gar- 
den, and so forth. This he promptly and peremptorily declined, saying 
that he had devoted himself, body, mind, and estate, to the cause of 
Popular Education in Massachusetts, and the only alternative on which 
he would leave it was success or death. 

On the 23d of February, IS-tS, Mr. John Quinc}^ Adams, who was a 
representative from the Congressional district in which Mr. Mann re- 
sided, died in the United States House of Representativ^es, which for 
almost twenty years had been the theatre of his noble labors in behalf of 
human freedom. A successor was to be chosen, but where should one 
be found ? In passing the broad chasm which separated the " old man 
eloquent" from common politicians, all other men seemed about equally 
well qualified. Hence almost every town in the district had its candi- 
date for the successorship. The nominating convention met with pre- 
ferences almost equalling in numbers the individuals who composed it. 
Mr. Mann was named, and at once the only question was whether he 
would accept the offer if tendered. Even with this uncertainty, he was 
put in nomination ; and though he was strongly disinclined at first to 
quit his favorite field of labor, and even wrote a letter declining the office, 
yet he eventually yielded his objections. His overruling motive lay in the 
fact that the country had just conquered an immense extent of territory, and 
the great question of questions — " the question of the age " — was, whether 
that territory should be rescued and consecrated to freedom for ever, or for 
ever cursed with slavery. As he correctly said, " A state of true and uni- 
versal education would imply the highest state of earthly existence, but free- 
dom was the prerequisite of education." He was elected 'at the first trial by 
a majority over all competitors, and immediately took his scat in Congress. 

As soon as elected, he tendered the resignation of his secretaryship to 
the Board. They declined to accept it, urging his retention of the ofHce 
for the residue of the then current year. He assented ; and to this we 
are indebted for that crowning work of his educational life — his Twelfth 
Annual Report. 

On the 30th of the ensuing June he made his debut as a speaker in 
Congress, in a speech " On the right of Congress to legislate for the terri- 
tories of the United States, and its duty to exclude slavery therefrom." This 
speech was read by his constituents and fellow-citizens of Massachusetts, 
and indeed by the lovers of human liberty throughout all the free States, 
with almost unexampled approval. We would commend those who have 
since disapproved his course in regard to the slavery question and inci- 
dents growing out of it, to reperuse that speech which they once so ear- 
nestly praised, and see if its doctrines do not logically necessitate every- 
thing he has since said on the subject; and whether, if that speech be 
assumed as a datum, everything which has since followed on his part 
was not indispensable to political and moral consistency. 

In the ensuing November he was re-elected to Congress by an over- 
whelming majority', receiving eleven tJiousand out of about thirteen thou- 
sand votes. 



208 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

We need not enumerate Lis subsequent eflforts in opposing the aggres- 
sions of slavery and the spread ot" its dominion, and particuhu-ly of its 
spirit, over free territory ; because his leading Speeches in Congress, Let- 
ters to Conventions, and so forth, have been collected and published in a 
volume, where they vi^ill remain as an enduring memorial that no love of 
office, no seduccment of sordid friendships, lior threats of partisan ven- 
o-eance, could ever shake his steadfast soul from its allegiance to the im- 
mortal principles of freedom and humanity/'" 

Though attending diligently to all liis legislative duties, he did not 
whollv abandon his tavorite fields of education and charity. During his 
first session, he was appointed chairman of a select committee on the sub- 
ject of the United States Penitentiary in the District of Columbia, and 
drew up the committee's report. He volunteered as counsel for Drayton 
and Sayre, indicted for stealing seventy-six slaves in the District of Co- 
lumbia, and, at the trial in the court below, was engaged for twenty-one 
successive days in their defence ; and he afterwards argued their case in 
the appellate court, where the false rulings of the Judge below weva so 
sio-nally overthrown. A sketch of his argument, and an interesting ac- 
count of this trial, may be found in the volume above referred to. As 
Secretary of the Board of Education, he still carried on all its correspond- 
ence, and on his return home at the close of the session, presided, lec- 
tured, and tauo-ht at all the Teachers' Institutes, and wrote his final 
Report. 

In 1849, the Massachusetts Legislature, by joint resolution, requested 
him to digest and prepare a full account of the school system of the 
State as then existing by law, to be founded upon the basis of his Tenth 
Annual Report, but to incorporate all the subsequent legislation of the 
State. Of this work the State printed (en thoumnd copies for gratuitous 
distribution. It is the standard w^ork on the various subjects of which 
•it treats. 

He now found time also to superintend the execution of another work, 
the idea of which he had been revolving in his mind for many years. It 
was a series of common school arithmetics, based, so far as its principal 
materials arc concerned, upon an original idea. Instead of taking mere 
moneyed operations, or boxes or bales of goods, as the material out of 
which arithmetical questions were to be prepared, it surveyed the whole 
circle of arts, sciences, statistics, history, chronology, biography, geo- 
graphy, and so forth, and so forth, and framed its questions out of such 
of their facts as were found susceptible of an arithmetical statement ; so 
that the questions, as far as practicable, contained not only a pi'oblem to 
be solved, but an interesting and valuable fact worthy of being remem- 
bered. Ill the general arrangement and execution of his original plan, he 
had the very viiluable assistance of P. E. Chase, Esq., whose name is as- 
sociated with that of Mr. Mann in the work. 

His speech on " Slavery and the Slave-trade in the District of Colum- 
bia," made in the House of Represenratives, Feb., 1850, was most favor- 
ably received at the North, and had i, very extensive circulation at the 



* "Slavery: Letters and Speeches by Horace Mann," pp. 564. B. B. Mussey 
& Co. Boston, 1851. 



HORACE MANN, OF OHIO. 209 

South. Up to tills pei-iod, Mr. Mann was on (lie floocl-tido of popularity. 
Having officially retired from the field of education, and being therefore 
no longer engaged in carrying forward educational measures distasteful 
to any party, or pi'cjudicial to any private interest, all had come to ac- 
knowledge his merits, and to appreciate his past services. His friends 
had witnessed the triumph of liis measures, and could point to a long 
train of beneficent consequences, in legislation, in charity, in social reform, 
in education, of which he had been the author ; while time and expe- 
rience had falsified all the adverse predictions of his opponents. In ad- 
dition to this, he had won new laurels in the political sphere, — not of a 
partisan or ephemeral character, but had connected his name with great 
principles which time nor decay can ever impair. Perhaps at this period 
there were few men so widely known who enjoyed a reputation less 
alloyed by censure or criticism than his. 

But a new scene v/as now to open upon him, and a year of the bit- 
terest opposition to arise from a quarter where least of all it could have 
been expected — from his own j^olitical fi'iends. Mr. Webster's speech in 
the Senate of the United States, on the 7tli of March, 1850, initiated the 
events we are about to narrate, and of which we sliall speak in the im- 
partial spirit of history. By that speech, Mr. Webster changed his atti- 
tude on the slavery question. In military language, he " faced right 
about." No other man ever became so suddenly popular, Avhere he had 
been unpopular before ; or so suddenly unpopular, where he had before 
been an object of admiration. The South, which for years had rung 
with hostility to him as a politician, now changed its censures to the 
loudest plaudits ; and the North, which had always turned its ear towards 
the Capitol where he was expected to speak, was now struck with dis- 
may and with temporary dumbness. At first none attempted to justify, 
and but few to palliate. Of Mi-. Webster's motives for this change we 
here sa}' nothing. Of facts, in this connection, we are bound to speak. 

Mr. Mann was among the first to see and predict the consequences of 
this step, so disastrous to the great question of human freedom then 
pending before the country. On the occasion of a visit, which he shortly 
afterwards made to his home, a numerous body of gentlemen belonging 
to his district, who declared that they " approved the course he had pur- 
sued in Congress, in maintaining so ably the sentiments and convictions 
which we maintain and cherish on the great national questions of the 
day," requested him to meet and address them " more at length than the 
one hour rule would allow." 

On the 3d of May, 1850, Mr. Mann addressed to these gentlemen a 
public letter, in which he commented on the course taken by Mr. Clay, 
General Cass, Mr. Webster, and others. Towards Mr. Webster, this letter 
was couched in most respectful language. We believe a perusal of it 
now will show that it contains not one word at which Mr. Webster or 
the most jealous of his friends could justly take offence. Nay, it era- 
ployed towards him language of high encomium. It said Mr. Welster 
had spoken " more eloquent words for liberty than any other 11 vino- 
man," — a compliment which, after all that has been said in behalf of 
freedom by contemporary orators, nothing but kindness could have 
prompted. We say that Mr. Mann himself had spoken more eloquently 
for liberty than Mr. Webster had ever done. Mr. Mann goes on to ex- 

VOL. IV. 14 



210 SKETCHES OF EMINEKT AMERICANS, 

press " my admiration for his powers, my gratitude for his past services, 
and the diffidence with which 1 dissented at first from his views," He 
then proceeds to examine Mr. Webster's arguments, which he does with 
candor and eminent fairness. The examination is close, the language 
eloquent, the refutation triumphant. But the tone is modest and conci- 
liatory, lie said others had commented on points in Mr. Webster's 
speech more pungently than he w-as willing to do. The manner of the 
letter was eminently respectful towards Mr. Webster, excessively so, as it 
seemed to us, and to others of Mr. Mann's friends at the time. Still he 
did prove, with invincible force, the sophistry of Mr. Webster's arguments 
and the enormity of his conclusions. Here are two specimens we are 
anxious to insert. Mr. Webster had said that slavery was excluded from 
California and New Mexico " by the law of nature, of physical geography, 
the law of the formation of the earth ;" that " California and New Mexico 
are Asiatic in their formation and scenery. They are composed of vast 
ridges of mountains of enormous height, with broken ridges and deep 
valleys." And hence he declared that, " If a resolution or a law were 
now before us to provide a territorial government for New Mexico, I 
would not vote to put any prohibition [of slavery] into it whatever." 

To this Mr. Mann replied : " Now, this is drawing moral conclusions 
from physical premises. It is arguing from physics to metaphysics. It 
is determining the law of the spirit by geographical phenomena. It is 
undertaking to settle by mountains and rivers, and not by the ten com- 
mandments, a great question of human duty. It abandons the second 
commandment of Christ, and all bills of rights enacted in conformity 
thereto, and leaves our obligations to our neighbor to be determined by 
the accidents of earth, and water, and air. To ascertain whether a people 
will obey the divine command, and do to others as they would be dono 
by, it looks at the thermometer. What a problem would this be : ' Re- 
quired the height above the level of the sea at which the oppressor will 
undo the heavy burdens and let the oppressed go free, and break every 
yoke,' — to be determined barometrically. Alas ! this cannot be done. 
Slavery depends not upon climate, but upon conscience. Wherever the 
wicked passions of the human heart can go, there slavery can go. Sla- 
very is an effect. Avarice, .sloth, pride, and the love of domination are 
its cause. In ascending mountain sides, at what altitude do men leave 
these passions behind them ? Different vegetable growths are to be found 
at different heiglits, depending also upon the zone. This I can under- 
stand. There is the altitude of the palm, the altitude ,of the oak, the 
altitude of the pine, and, far above them all, the line of perpetual snow. 
But in regard to innocence and guilt, where is the ivhiie line '( How high 
up can a slaveholder go, and not lose his free agency ? At what eleva- 
tion will the whip fall from the hands of the master, and the fetter from 
the limbs of the slave ? There is no such point. Freedom and slavery 
on the one hand, and climate and geology on the other, are incommen- 
surable quantities. We might as well attempt to determine a question in 
theology by the cubic root, or a question in ethics by the black art. 
Slavery being a crime founded on human passions, can go wherever those 
passions are unrestrained. It has existed in Asia from the earliest ages, 
notwithstanding its formation and scenery. It labors and governs on 
the flanks of the Ural mountains now. There are today forty-eight mil- 



HORACE MANN, OF OHIO. 211 

Jions of slaves in Russia, not one rood of which comes down so low as the 
northern boundary of California and New Mexico." 

By the resolutions for annexing Texas, not more than three additional 
slave States could by any fair construction ever be claimed. But Mr. 
Webster had stated and argued the case so as to give Texas a right to 
four. After demonstrating the fallacy, Mr. Mann says: "Here Mr. 
Webster gives outright to the South and to slavery one more State than 
was contracted for — assuming the contract to be valid. He makes a 
donation, a gratuity, of an entire slave State, larger than many a Euro- 
pean principality. ' He transfers a whole State, with all its beating hearts, 
present and future, with all its infinite susceptibilities of weal and woe, 
from the side of freedom to that of slavery in tlie ledger-book of human- 
ity. What a bridal gift for the harlot of bondage !" 

This letter, in the then excited state of the public mind, created great 
sensation. Mr. Webster immediately broke off all personal intercourse 
with Mr. Mann, and in a letter written on the 15th of the same May, to 
some citizens of Newburyport, a town in the northeastern part of the 
county of Essex, in Massachusetts, he attacked Mr. Mann in the following 
language : " This personal vituperation does not annoy me, but I lament 
to see a public man of Massachusetts so crude and confused in his legal 
apprehensions, and so little acquainted with the constitution of his country, 
as these opinions evince Mr. Mann to be." 

Here was a charge of " personal vituperation," and of ignorance of the 
laws and constitution of the country, under which no fair disputant, and 
no jui'ist, having a reputation to defend, could be expected to remain 
silent. Mr. Mann replied in a long and elaborate letter, published in the 
Boston Atlas in the following -June, but still in a tone of respect and 
courtesy, though with somewhat more plainness of language. We quote 
the conclusion of his letter : 

" I am not unmindful of the position in which I stand. I am not un- 
aware that cir-cumstances have placed me in an antagonistic relation to a 
man whose vast powers of intellect the world has so long and so vividly 
enjoyed, and so profoundly admired. I well know that a personal contest 
between us seems unequal, far more than did the impending combat be- 
tween the Hebrew stripling and the champion of the Philistines, who 
had a helmet of brass upon his head, and greaves of brass upon his legs, 
and the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. But the contest 
is not between us. It is" between truth and error ; and just so certain as 
the spirit of Good will prevail over the spirit of Evil, just so certain will 
Truth ultimately triumph. In such a case as this, there is one point of 
view in which Mr. Webster is a desirable antagonist ; for the thick and 
far-beaming points of light which he has left all along his former course 
of life, cannot fail to expose, to all eyes but his own, the devious path 
into which he has now wandered." 

On the 17tli of June, just seventy-five years after the battle of Bunker 
Hill, and twenty-five after his masterly speech commemorative thereof, 
Mr. Webster made another speech in the Senate, seeking to fortify that 
of the 7th of March. This speech he sent to some "gentlemen on the 
Kennebec river," with a letter, in which, as it seems to us, he forgot not 
only all courtesy but all gentlemanly propriety towards Mr. Mann. In- 
stead of offering a word of argument in confutation of Mr. Maan's con- 



212 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

elusive reasonings, he treats them with language such as the following : — - 
"One hardly knows which most to contemn, the nonsense or the dis- 
honesty of such commentaries on another's words. I know no passion 
more appropriate to devils than the passion for gross misrepresentation 
and slander." 

To this Mr. Mann replied in " Notes," added to a new edition of his 
preceding " Letters," which had been called for, and now, under the en- 
forced change in the relation of the parties, he commented on the stric- 
tures of his opponent with just and appropriate severity. By this time, 
many of the leading Whig merchants and manufacturers and the jour- 
nals of the Whig party in the Atlantic cities had changed tlieir ground 
on the slavery question, and espoused the side of Mr. Webster. All these 
now assailed Mr. Mann with a fury and a bitterness which, hereafter, it 
will be difficult to credit. It was immediately proclaimed that he should 
not be returned to Congress at the ensuing fall election. At a packed 
convention of the Whigs of his district, he lirst failed of being nominat- 
ed by a single vote, and afterwards another was declared to be unani- 
mously nominated in his place. Every eftort was now made by pro- 
slavery men to defeat him. Mr. Webster, then Secretary of State, came 
to Massachusetts, where he spent five or six weeks ; and here he exerted 
all his influence against his most dangerous political antagonist. 

The day of election was rapidly drawing nigh. An intense interest 
was felt in the result, not only in Mr. Mann's district, but throughout 
Massachusetts, and even beyond its borders. It was instinctively felt that 
the contest would have an important bearing, not only upon the State 
election, but upon national questions, and even upon that state of public 
opinion out of which the policy of the nation will hereafter flow. 

Considering the high oflicial influence that was thus brought to " in- 
terfere with the freedom of elections," the amount of money expended, 
and the grossness of the misrepresentations circulated, in order to defeat 
Mr. Mann, it was considered proper, whatever the law of custom might 
be, that he should take the field in his own person, and vindicate what 
was at once his own cause and the cause of liberty. This he did before 
a series of mass meetings, held at various localities in the district. 

These meetings were unlike common political gatherings. There was 
no parade, and no noise. The empty drum was not the herald of the 
empty speech. On the contrary, a soberness amounting almost to solem- 
nity everywhere prevailed. The audiences consisted of intelligent, con- 
scientious men, earnestly seeking for truth. The speaker, disdaining all 
clap-trap and all appeal to passion, addressed their reason and their moral 
sense ; but addressed them in such earnest and solemn strains of argu- 
ment and of expostulation, as kindled the intensest feeling. The meet- 
ings seemed like those of the old Puritans, addressed by one of the stern 
pilgrims, to whose soul, glowing with religious enthusiasm, the obligations 
and the solemnities of both worlds were alike present. A Sabbatli of 
rest came between the last meeting and the day of election ; and then 
the people went to the polls as Cromwell's soldiers went to battle, and 
gave their verdict in favor of Mr. Mann by re-electing him to Congress 
by a triumphant majority over both the oj^posing parties. Following this 
result, there was great joy and gratulation on the one side ; great mortifi- 
cation and chagrin on the other. It was well said that Mr. Webster was 



HORACE MANN, OF OHIO. 213 

the only man who could break down the Whig party in Massachusetts — 
and he did it ; and that Mr. Mann was the only person in his district, 
who, against the influence of money, of party machinery and party press, 
and moreover, against the personal and political eftbrU of Mr. Webster 
himself, could have upheld the banner of free principles — and he did it. 
This he did, however, as may well be supposed, at great personal cost to 
himself. To dare to enter the lists against a man having such an armory 
of individual and official weapons at his command, and backed by such 
a host of oflSce-holding and of office-expecting adherents, would be cer- 
tain to bring down a storm of indignation upon him ; but to do it suc- 
cessfully, and to worst the giant in the conflict, would make that storm 
a hurricane. 

The controversy between the parties, in which these two gentlemen 
had now become so conspicuous, still continued, and the views and prin- 
ciples they respectively espoused made up a great part of all the political 
disquisitions of the day. On the 28th of February, 1851, Mr. Mann de- 
livered his speech in the House of Representatives, on the Fugitive Slave 
Law, in which he exposed still further its unconstitutional and cruel cba- 
racter; and on the 19th of May following, pending the canvass for a re- 
presentative to Congress from the fourth Congressional district of Mas- 
sachusetts, he delivered a speech at Lancaster, the greater part of which 
was devoted to a consideration of the same law, and to an examination 
of the opinion then recently given by Mr. Commissioner Curtis, of Bos- 
ton, in the case of Thomas Sims, who was stripped of his liberty and 
doomed to life-long bondage, without the sentence of any court or the 
verdict of any jury. Mr. Mann was never more eloquent. The iniquity 
of slavery, the unconstitutionality and atrocity of the Fugitive Slave Law, 
the wickedness of its authors and abettors, were set forth in language 
surpassing even the ordinary eloquence of the speaker. He who, by his 
great powers, had done more than all other men to bring this calamity 
upon the country, could not escape the lightnings of the indignant phi- 
lanthropist. 

In this speech, too, Mr. Mann set forth a doctrine which gave occasion 
for a display of the fiercest bitterness of his opponents. It was the doc- 
trine that the personal vices of public men have no title or pretence to 
be considered as belonging to private character, and therefore to be ex- 
empted from public animadversion. He said, " In selecting men to be 
our political leaders, we have sometimes committed the gravest moral 
error. We have assumed the falsity of a distinction between a man's 
public and his private life. We have supposed that the same individual 
might be a bad man and a good citizen ; a patriot and an inebriate ; a 
faithful officer and a debauchee at the same time ; might serve his coun- 
try during otfice hours, and the powers of darkness the rest of the twenty- 
four. But I say, as of old, no man can serve God and mammon." . . . 
" When public men openly and notoriously practise vice, they make the 
vice public and bring it within public jurisdiction. If it is public for 
example, it is public for criticism ; and under such circumstances, the 
moral and religious guides of the community are as solemnly bound 
'truly to find and due presentment make' of these oflfences, as the grand 
jury is in the case of crimes against the laws of the land." 

Mr. Maun well knew that the personal character of great states- 



214 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

men is among the public forces which elevate or debauch the people ; 
for, 

"That sin doth ten times aggravate itself 
That is committed in a holy place ; 
An evil deed done by authority 
Is sin and subornation." 

He knew, 

" That poison shows worst in a golden cup, 
Dark night seems darker by the lightning's flash, 
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds. 
Of every glory that inclines to sin 
The shame is trebled by the opposite." 

Consider the question as a theorem in morals; abstract it from all sus- 
picion of application to any particular man, whom wealth or power may 
surround with adherents, and bow demoralizing and flagitious is the doc- 
trine that would make the public j'jariiceps criminis in the profligacies of 
life, by rewarding with high office and honors the man in whose keep- 
ing, for instance, the chastity of maidens and the sobriety of youth would 
not be safe ! Our politicians thrust themselves in every way upon public 
notice ; they bespeak our attention to their aptitude for public service; 
and then they claim, in behalf of what they call their private characters, 
an immunity from animadversion. Private, forsooth ! Have they not 
voluntarily placed themselves in the public eye ? Is not their influence 
as men vastly increased by the addition of official rank, honor, and con- 
spicuousness ? If their talent have a greater field for display, so does 
their vicious example become more potent for evil. The truth is too 
plain to be contested by any morally sane man, that the public and the 
private character of men belong together. They are indissoluble by na- 
ture. Their influences on others are inseparable. They universally go 
together in history. It is therefore false philosophy and false morals to 
attempt to separate them in contemporary treatment. 

Mr. Mann's doctrine and practice on this subject have been uniform 
and consistent. In all his public teachings, he has always preached the 
sound and healthy doctrine, that a public man ought not to have any 
private vices ; nay, that he cannot have private vices. In so doing, he only 
preached a natura"l law. A city set upon a hill cannot be bid. As little 
can immoralities and profligacies be hid, when those who are guilty of 
them are exalted to high places. The exaltation is wrong, and in the 
end will bring its retribution. The country had a thousand times better 
forego the use of the ability with which vice may be associated, than to 
accept the evil influences of the vice for the benefit of the ability. Or, as 
Mr. Mann has expressed it, " I know that it is also said we must have 
great talents in the public councils at whatever price. Well, if this be your 
philosophy, don't do the work by halves, but import Lucifer at once !" 

Surely, surely, in an age like this, when all moral and Christian men 
are lamenting that there should be such lack of religion and of principle 
in the public functionaries and public measures of the country, they, 
should hail with pleasure the appearance of a Cato, even with all his 
sternness. 

But it is time, after a few brief statements, to close this sketch. Mr. 



HORACE MANN, OF OHIO. 215 

Maim came very early into public life ; tliat is, the ability and zeal he 
displayed made him early conspicuous. A glance at what we have 
written will show that he has engaged in a great variety of enterprises, 
calling for varied talents and acquirements. Of several of these enter- 
prises he was tlie originator ; in all of them, a leading and working 
spirit. 

Now thi'ce things may be remarked of them all. First, they were of 
a character to commend themselves to the moral sense and humanity of 
the people. In all cases, the end and aim were noble. All had in view 
human improvement. None of them were such as would be attractive 
to men of a selfish and ambitious character. 

Second, it is to be remarked that success has crowned his efforts. 
Where is the enterprise he has undertaken which has failed ? This is 
not only a proof of his industry and ability, but of sound judgment and 
sterling sense. It is an answer to those who, untouched by the enthu- 
siasm which has inspired him in his zealous pursuit of high objects, and 
lacking his faith in the progressive capabilities of the race, have pro- 
nounced him an enthusiast and a dreamer. 

And thirdly, the proof is abundant, and all on one side, that the spirit . 
in which Mr. Maun has pursued those high objects has been eminently 
unselfish and untainted with personal arabitiou. His self-esteem is so 
small, and his devotion to whatever cause he has in hand so intense, 
that it is easy to understand how he should have disregarded his per- 
sonal interests. He espoused the cause of Temperance at a time when 
its advocates needed a strength of character acquired in some other 
social relation to bear up against the obloquy and opposition it incurred. 
Without propei-ty, and burdened by debts incurred for the expenses of 
his collegiate and professional education, he began his legal life by 
giving gratuitous advice and counsel in all cases where the interests of 
schools or teachers were concerned. Afterwards, Avhen overtaken by 
the pecuniary misfortune that so often befalls a surety, and not only all 
the property he had acquired was lost, but he was involved to a large 
amount beyond his means to pay, he adopted a system of the most rio-id 
economy, and even subjected himself to great personal pi'ivations, until 
every claim against him both of principal and interest was fully paid. 
He left the oflica of President of the Massachusetts Senate, and a pro- 
fessional income then amounting to three thousand tk>llars a year, and 
what may be considered at least a fair chance of political promotion, for 
what was then regarded as a very humble office, at a low salary, with- 
out perquisite or patronage, and necessarily attended with considerable 
expense — as administered by him, now known to have cost him not lesa 
than a third of his annual salary. At a time when this new enterprise, so 
fraught with benefits for all coming time, encountered a crisis of peril, 
and when a mere worldly sagacity would gladly have seized upon any 
occasion for an honorable escape, a proposition was tendered to him to 
accept the presidency of a western college, with a salary twice the 
amount of that he was receiving, and with valuable accompanying per- 
quisites ; he promptly rejected the offer, choosing to live or die by the 
cause he had espoused. In 1843 he visited Europe to examine their 
systems of education and methods of instruction, in hopes to learn and 
transfer something for the benefit of his own country ; and this journey 



216 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

he made at his own expense. In 1845, the Board of Education request- 
ed him by a formal vote to prepare a vohime of his " Lectures on Edu- 
cation" for the poor, to be incorporated into the " Common School 
Library," which was then publishing under its sanction. This request 
he promptly executed, and in his letter informing the Board that the 
work had been done, we find the following statement : " Having prepared 
said volume at the request of the Board, it is not consonant with my 
views of propriety to receive for my own personal benefit any part of the 
profits arising from the sale thereof, for the purpose above specified." 
He accordingly devoted all the copyright money received from that 
source to advance the cause in Avhich he was engaged ; so jealously did 
he guard the possibility of making use even of his own earnings, where 
they had so much as the savor of an official origin. This letter, accom- 
panied by a vote of thanks, the Board ordered to be placed upon their 
official files, where we have examined them, and where the original now 
remains as a monument of the Secretary's almost fastidious honor in 
everything relating to pecuniary transactions. 

A year after Mr. Mann had been elected to Congress, and while he was 
absent at Washington, some friends of the cause of education in the 
Legislature of Massachusetts, who were not before particularly acquainted 
with the pecuniary sacrifices which he had made for it (among whom 
was the Hon. Charles W. Upham, of Salem, the chairman of the joint 
Committee on Education), became apprised of the extraordinary devotion 
of his means, as well as of himself, to the cause that had been intrusted 
to him ; and through their agency this Committee was instructed " to 
ascertain what sums, if any, were paid by the late Secretary of the Board 
of Education out of his private means, for the erection of normal school- 
houses, and for other purposes of a public nature, with power to send for 
persons and papers." 

In March following, the Committee made their report, which consisted 
mainly of statements made by various individuals, of such facts as they 
personally knew, concerning the pecuniary contributions made by Mr. 
Mann, out of his own private means, to carry forward the public work 
with which he had been charged. From this report, and the statements 
it contains, we shall quote largely. Biographies are rarely swelled by 
any great accumulation of similar details. 

The Committee first introduce a letter from Mr. Mann himself, dated 
Washington, February 9, 1849, from which we make the following ex- 
tracts : — 

" The order empowers the Committee to send for persons and papers. 
You are pleased to put your requisition upon me in the imperative mood ; 
though doubtless for no other reason than that of overcoming a repugnance 

I might be supposed to feel, against speaking upon the subject 

" You must permit me to say, in the first place, that, until the receipt 
of your letter, I was entirely ignorant that any such movement had been 
made, or was contemplated, by any one. I could never have brought 
myself to ask, nor even to ask a friend to ask, for any remuneration for 
the sacrifices iTiade, or the expenses incurred, in promoting the objects of 
my office. However much it may prejudice the end you have in vie^y, 
I must, nevertheless, say, that those sacrifices and expenses were incurred 
without any expectation of reimbursement. When I left a lucrative pro- 



HORACE MANN, OF OHIO. 21*7 

fessioii for the Secretaryship, I cheerfully surrendered all hopes of wealth 
or promotion. And, from the day when I accepted that office, I held 
myself personally responsible for the success of the enterprise; and 
though it might cost me my means, my health, my life, or a hundred 
lives, if I had them, I held the triumph of the cause to be paramount to 
them all. 

" On entering upon the office, it is well known that numerous, and in 
some cases heavy expenses were connected with it, such as never had 
been contemplated, either by the fi'amers of the law, or by myself. Not 
a cent has ever been allowed me for clerk-hire or office-rent. At first, 
no provision v.as made for postages or stationery. Since provision was 
made for these latter items, I have never charged half their cost, lest the 
expenses of the office might excite opposition against it. Whatever 
books I needed, either in our own or other languages, I have been obliged 
to pui'cliase and pay for myself. For other expenses incurred in travel- 
ling over the State, for the first five years, — occupying about four months 
each year, — no allowance has ever been made me. 

"What I have paid for clerk-hire must, of course, be known to those 
who have received it ; and what I have spent for educational works and 
documents, to be distributed over the State, must be known to those who 
have furnished, and who have received them. If there have been still 
other expenses, perhaps they had better come under the rule of not 
letting the left hand know what the right hand doeth 

" In what I have already said, although said at your request, I may be 
thought by some to be treading on delicate ground. This movement 
did not originate with me. I cannot present myself in the form of a 
petitioner, asking for a return of what was voluntai'ily given. I must 
take care of my honor. Tiie State is the proper judge of its own. If 
the State chooses to consider any part of the sums I have paid as paid 
on its account, — as paid for property of which it now has the benefit, or 
now enjoys the actual use and possession, — it will be gratefully received, 
both as a token of its approbation, and as the refunding of moneys I 
must otherwise lose. But let what will come, no poverty, and no esti- 
mate of mAJ" services, however low, can ever make me repine that I have 
sought, with all the means and the talents at my command, to lay 
broader and deeper the foundations of the prosperity of our Common- 
wealth, and to elevate its social and moral character among its confede- 
rate States, and in the eyes of the world. 

" With tlie most respectful regards for yourself, and your colleagues on 
the committee, and with an earnest request that, in whatever you may 
deem it right to do in relation to this movement, you will take care of 
my honor, whatever may become of my purse, 

" I remain, &c., &c." 

The Hon. A. Hale, then a member of Congress, in whose place of re- 
sidence — Bridgewater — one of the normal school-houses had been erect- 
ed, made, among other things, the following statement : — 

" The Board then advertised for proposals for the erection of the [Nor- 
mal School] buildings, according to the plans and specifications which 
had been furnished by the Board. 

" The proposals being very much above the amount at the disposal of 



218 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

the Board for that object, alterations were made in the plans and speci- 
fications, reducing the expense of the buildings very considerably ; but 
still the Board could not find any person to erect the buildings lor the 
sum in their hands — and it seemed that the enterprise must be aban- 
doned. Under these circumstances, Mr. Mann came forward, and gave his 
private obligation to pay the excess of the cost of the buildings, over and 
above the amount at the disposal of the Board. With this indemnity, 
the Board caused the buildings to be erected, and, on a settlement of the 
bills, it was found that the excess amounted to about $'740, of which 
an individual of the town of Bridgewater paid $100, and Mr. Mann the 
residue." 

The following facts were detailed by the Hon. Josiah Quincy, jr., then 
Mayor of Boston : — 

"I cannot withhold my testimony as to the disinterested liberality 
with which Mr. Mann has endeavored to forward the great cause of pub- 
lic education. 

"I shall confine myself to pecuniary sacrifices on advances made by 
him, of a comparatively large amount. 

" Five or six years ago, Mr. Mann applied to me for a loan on his law 
library, of some five or six huudred dollars, for the purpose of furnishing 
the lodo-ino-diouse of the Normal School at Lexington. Knowino; his cir- 
cumstances, I endeavored to dissuade him from giving so much to the 
public, and refused, on that ground, to lend him the money ; the result 
was, he sold his librar}^, and furnished the house, losing, I have no doubt, 
in the result, the whole amount. 

" Shortly after this, the land and school-house at West Newton were 
given to the public,'-' with the undei'standing that the citizens of that 
place, and the fiiends of education, would fit wp the building in the most 
approved style. 

" Some months after the building was completed, I learned, accident- 
ally, that the necessary funds had not been raised, and that Mr. Mann 
and Mr. Pierce had expended and paid a large amount of their own 
money [-$1,300] for the repau-s. A meeting of friends of the cause was 
immediately called at my house, without the knowledge of either of the 
gentlemen, to provide means for its payment 

" Massachusetts owes the existence of two of her normal school build- 
ings to the advances made by two gentlemen to complete the first. 

" After the erection of the schools at Westfield and Bridgewater, Mr. 
Mann applied to me for a loan of $2,000. On inquiry, I found that the 
appropriations for these buildings fell short of the contract prices, and, 
rather than run the risk of losing them, My. Mann had made himself 
personally liable for the difference. lie insisted on borrowing the money, 
and giving security for it, and forbade my applying to any individuals, 
or to the State, on the subject. As it was a business transaction, I have 
never mentioned it, and should not have done it now, except at the order 
of the State. He gave as security almost, I believe, all his personal 
property — and still owes the debt." 

Mr. George B. Emerson enumerated various items, varying from 



*This donation was, made by Mr, Qumcy himself, though from his letter one 
would never surmise it. 



HORACE MANN, OF OHIO. 219 

to 1640 at a time, of whose. payment by Mr. Mann from time to time, for 
the promotion of the cause, he happened to be personally cognisant, and 

then adds : — 

"The expenses of printino- the papers he has written, in defence of the 
cause of the Massachusetts Board of Education, fell principally upon him, 

and must have amounted to a very large sum 

" It has always seemed to me that giving, as he did, his life to this 
work, and having made a very great personal sacrifice, in a pecuniary 
point, by accepting the office of Secretary to the Board of Education, he 
was less bound than any other individual to contribute towards these 
objects from his private purse. But he was in the habit of doing, at his 
own expense, what he saw was necessary for the cause, whenever no one 
else came forward to do it." 

Messrs. Dutton & Wentworth, "Printers to the State," volunteered 
to send the chairman of the Committee the following letter : — 

" Dear Sir, — Learning that a movement is about to be made in the 
Legislature, to make some remuneration to the Hon. Horace Mann, late 
Secretary of the Board of Education, for personal and other expenses, 
incurred during his term of office, we beg leave to volunteer in his 
behalf. During the twelve years of his term of office, all the Reports of 
the Board and its Secretary have been printed by us. In regard to the 
printing he has ordered, he has always had it done in the most econo- 
mical manner, and we wish to bear our testimony to the fact. Whenever 
he has wanted, for distribution, extra copies of his Reports, he has ordered 
J them printed on his private account, and paid for them himself; we are 

unable to state the exact amount he has paid us for these documents, but 
should say it must have been $15 or $100. The documents he has pur- 
chased of us were his own Reports, school abstracts, lectures, &c. &c., 
besides circulars he has issued for teachers' meetings, where addresses 
were to be delivered by himself and others. The amount stated above, 
we are aware, is not large, but the spirit of the transaction is more than 
the amount. He never would take a sheet, or a copy, belonging to the 
State, at any time. If he wanted copies for distribution, he has ordered 
them, and paid for them out of his own purse. In the matter of postages, 
he has also not been less scrupulous and conscientious, having always 
paid the expresses for letters and proof sheets, to and from himself, v/hen 
he was in the country while his Reports were printing. In everything 
in relation to the duties of his office, he has always been very exact ; 
scrupulous and uniform in the discharge of his duties, so far as the matter 
of printing is concerned. We believe the State owes Mr. Mann a great 
debt, and if the simple facts here stated will help his cause, we feel we 
are only doing an act of justice to him as an officer of the strictest in- 
ii tegrity. With sentiments of respect and esteem, 

" Your obedient servants, 

" DuTTON & Wentworth, 
" State Frinters^ 
On this letter the Report remarks : — 

" The letter from Messrs. Dutton & Wentworth is quite remarkable, as 
proving the scrupulous sense of justice and honor that has marked Mr. 
Mann's discharge of his late office. To use an expression which bears 
the stamp of his own peculiar richness of illustration, he has been careful 



220 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

' to shake the gold dust from liis garments, whenever he has had occasion 
to go into the public mint.' "* 

Wm. B. Fowle, Esq., bookseller and publisher of the Common School 
Journal, during the last six years of the time that Mr. Mann was its 
editor, being called upon for information by the Committee, attested as 
follows : — 

" It always appeared to me, that Mr. Mann had set his lieart upon the 
great work of resuscitating the school system, at any sacrifice to himself, 
of ease or property. I never knew what resources he had, but I often 
wondered at the liberality, or what to me seemed the prodigality, of his 
donations; and yet the expenditure of his money must have been to him 
a trifle, compared with the outlay of strength which I often witnessed. I 
often warned him of his danger, when I saw him suifering from an over- 
worked brain, but he never desisted, though he admitted the danger, for 
the woik was to be done, and, if neglected, though beyond human 
strength, the community, not knowing this, would consider him imfaith- 
ful. This was his greatest sacrifice in the cause of education, but, as no 
pecuniary estimate can be set upon this, perhaps I should not have 
alluded to it. I have known, him for weeks to be unable to sleep. When 
Mr. M. entered upon his duties, it was evident that his efforts would be 
very restricted, if he did not contrive to scatter the information he collect- 
ed. Indeed, the law required that he should both collect and distribute, 
but the State made no provision for the disti-ibution ! As the most 
popular and economical method of complying with the requirements of 
the law, Mr. M. commenced the Common School Journal. At the end 
of the fourth year, when I became the publisher, the receipts had fallen 
short of the expenditures. Since that time, viz., for six years, the loss has 
not fallen upon Mr. M., but he has continued to edit the Journal, because 
he considered it essential to the success of the great cause. 

"The vols, contain many valuable documents, which it was important 
to scatter widely over the State. It was Mr. M.'s custom to print extra 
numbers of these, and distribute them gratuitously to the schools. I 
recollect three or four cases, in which he sent a copy to every district, of 
which there must have been three or four thousand 

" Probably each of these donations cost him seventy-five dollars. 
Many single volumes of the Journal, and sometimes whole sets, were 
given away for the general good, but of this I have no record, though I 
know the volumes amounted to hundreds. 

" The compilation of the volume of Abstracts was a heavy task, but, 
besides making this, be actually paid for the making of the index, which, 
I know (for I made one of them), is no slight affair 

" Two other items have occurred to me, and they should be mentioned 



* While Mr. Mann was a candidate for the office of Governor of Massachusetts 
(as hereafter mentioned), he was informed tliat an emissary of one of the political 
parties opposed to him had been at the State-house for tliree days, overhauling 
the accounts and official records made by him while Secretary of the Board of 
Education, in hopes to find or create some pretext for impeaching his conduct. 
"Let him get a microscope," said Mr Mann, "and blind himself with looking. 
He will not only find no stain in my official conduct, but I hope the examination 
of it will make him an honester man." 



HORACE MANN, OF OHIO. 221 

as helping to illustrate the perfect forgetfulness of self, which marked the 
official course of Mr. Mann. 

" Three or four years ago, when outline maps began to be used 
in schools, it became proper that the pupils of the Normal Schools 
should be taught how to use them. As the Board of Education had 
no funds, Mr. Mann paid for three sets, one for each school. The price 
is $25 a set. 

" Before Mr. M. went to Europe, I had frequent conversations with 
him on the subject of European schools, and he regretted that he had 
not that personal knowledge which could enable him to com])are them 
with our own, and to propose such improvements as would really 
advance our own. I think this was his only motive in going, for he 
visited nothing but schools, and returned as soon as possible. The 
expenses of his visit must have exceeded his salary 1000 or 1500 dol- 
lars, and, on his return, I proposed to him to put his notes into the foim 
of a book, and let me publish them, assuring him that the copyright 
would produce more than he had expended beyond his salary. His 
reply was, that he was a public officer, and went for the public, and the 
public were entitled to the information, free of any such tax. His 
remarks, therefore, were thrown into his Seventh Annual Report, and 
given to the State." 

After paying a merited tribute of respect to the Hon. Edmund D wight 
for his well known liberality in the same cause, the Committee close 
their report with the following paragraph, and with a resolve for payino* 
out of the treasury of the Commonwealth "the sum of tw^o thousand 
dollars, in favor of Horace Mann, late Secretary of the Boai'd of Edu- 
cation " : — 

"The Committee do not propose, as they feel confident that it would 
not be agreeable to Mr. Mann, to make out an exact account of what the 
State may owe him, in dollars and cents. He does not desire, and would 
not be willing, to be fully reimbursed, but, before all money that the 
treasury of the Commonwealth contains, lie prefers to cherish the happv 
and noble thought that he has labored and suffered in her behalf He 
asks for nothing, and has had no voluntary agency in this movement. 
Nothing would be more repugnant to his well-known sensibilities than to 
have a claim urged upon the State for an exact settlement of his accounts 
with it, upon mere business principles. What he has done he meant, at 
the time, for a gift, and the Committee do not propose to deprive him of 
the title of a benefactor. They do not propose to pay him o^', but, under 
the circumstances, they are of opinion that the passage of the following 
resolve, although not amounting by half to what upon a strict computa- 
tion is equitably due to him, would be more agreeable to his feelings 
than a moie precise remuneration." 

From authentic information we are able to say that this sum w'as but 
a very small part of what had been paid by Mr. Mann from his own 
pocket, in furtherance of the cause of education, while he was Secretary 
of the Board ; but, inadequate as a remuneration though it was, it was in 
the highest degree honorable both to giver and receiver. Before any one 
complains of Massachusetts for not doing more, let him point to a single 
State in our Union, or to a single government in the world, which, under 
such circumstances, and for suck a class of services, would have done as 



222 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

much. We believe the resolve was passed, in both Houses, without a 
dissenting vote. 

The same spirit has signalized the course of Mr. Mann in whatever 
other cause he has been engaged. In 1848, the first year of his being 
in Congress, with his new legislative duties on his band, and still dis- 
charging those of Secretary of the Board, when the excited people of 
Washington threatened to mob Mr. Giddings merely for appearing as counsel 
for Drayton and Sayre (the prisoners charged with stealing and abduct- 
ing seventy-six slaves, in the schooner " Pearl "), Mr. Mann volunteered 
to become their counsel, battled their case in the court below for twenty- 
one successive days, appealed from the verdicts rendered by the jury un- 
der the false rulings of Judge Crawford, got all those verdicts set aside in 
the District Court, and then again, after the cases were remanded for a 
new trial, contested them for ten days more, and finally saved the prison- 
ers from all but a pecuniary penalty ; and for all these services, he never 
asked nor received a cent of compensation. 

The principal of Mr. Mann's published works are the ten volumes (oc- 
tavo) of his Common School Journal ; a compilation called Abstracts of 
the Massachusetts School Returns and Reports (in which the amount of 
printed matter far exceeds that of all the volumes of Sparks's " Life of 
Washington ") ; his twelve Annual Reports as Secretary of the Board of 
Education ; his volume of " Lectures on Education ;" his " Speeches and 
Letters on the subject of Slavery ;" his controversial writings, which are 
voluminous ; his " Thoughts for Young Men," a lecture of which some 
twenty thousand copies have been sold ; two lectures on temperance, one 
addressed to the "poor and ignorant," the other to the "rich and edu- 
cated ;" two lectures on the Powers and Duties of Woman ; Fourth of 
July orations, &c., (fee. Of his last speech in Congi-ess, delivered August 
l7th, 1852, more than a dozen editions have been printed in different 
States, and more than a hundred thousand copies sold. 

A few years ago, the degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred on Mr. 
Mann by Harvard College. He is a member of the American Academy 
of Arts and Sciences, &c., &c. 

On the 15th of September, 1852, Mr. Mann was nominated for the 
office of Governor by a Convention of the Free Democracy of Massachu- 
setts, held at Lowell ; and on the same day he was chosen President of 
Antioch College, a new institution situated at Yellow Springs, Greene co., 
Ohio. The trustees had voted that the college be opened on the first 
Wednesday of October, 1853. Thus from the day Mr. Mann entered 
public life, he has always been elected or appointed to a new office before 
the time of his previous election or appointment had expired. 

The political organization with which, Mr. Mann's sentiments and con- 
victions in behalf of human freedom had led him to act, was numericallv 
the smallest of the three political parties in Massachusetts. Of course, 
he was not elected, but his vote ran thirty per cent, ahead of that thrown 
by the party. 

The peculiarities of the college over which Mr. Mann is called to pre- 
side are those for which, during the whole course of his life, he has shown 
the strongest affinity. It is founded on a most liberal basis as to deno- 
minational tenets. Those under whose auspices it has been started take 
the Bible for their rule of faith and practice, rejecting all man-made 



RICnARD DE FOREST, OF NEW YORK. 223 

creeds ; they hold that the tree is known by its fruit, and therefore that 
Christian character and a Christian life are the true tests of Christian fel- 
lowship. 

The institution is also founded to secure the realization of one of Mr. 
Mann's most cherished objects during his whole educational career — 
namely, to give to the female sex equal opportunities of education (we 
do not say equal education, or, in all respects, the same, but equal 02)por- 
tunittes of education) with those which are aftbvded to males. 

We are glad to see INIr. Mann restored to the sphere of educational 
eftbrt, and rejoice that he will have an opportunity to put in practice his 
favorite ideas on this grandest of subjects. It will be grateful for all who 
honor him to think of him again as a laborer in the glorious fields of 
learning, surrounded by the young and emulous whose aspirations he 
knows so well how to guide to noble ends. He is still in the vigor of 
mature age ; and though he has labored as few men can labor and live, 
yet he has been so temperate, and so regular in those habits on which 
strength and life depend, that his ordinary health promises to hold out 
for many years* Of one thing we may be sure, that, so long as life is in 
him, so long will he strike for the right and at the wrong. 



RICHARD DE FOREST, 

OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK. 

The Rev. Richard De Forest, as his name implies, is of French descent. 
We find that his earliest ancestor in this country migrated front France 
to escape persecution for his religious principles. His name was Isaac 
De Forest, and he was a member of that persecuted sect, the Huguenots, 
whose sufterino-s will always excite the sympathy of enlightened minds, 
and whose constancy under affliction entitles them to the highest rank in 
the "noble army of martyrs." 

This o-entleman, flying from the tyranny that condemned all those who 
held his opinions to an ignominious death, sought refuge and an asylum 
on these western shores, and landed on the spot then called New Am- 
sterdam, where now stands the great commercial metropolis of New 
York. He was a man of influence and wealth, and was a member of the 
first Board of Trustees of the Collegiate Churches of New York, who 
received the original deed of real estate from the King of Great Britain 
about the year 1G38. 

The paternal progenitor of the subject of this sketch, Abraham De 
Forest, was a native of SouierviUe, Somerset county. New Jersey.^ He 
had been taught the honorable trade of a carpenter, and pursued in his 
youth the calling hallowed as that which the Son of Joseph and Mary is 
said by the Evangelists to have used for the support of his parents before 
he commenced his divine mission of Saviour of the world. His mother, 



224 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

.1 Miss Catharine Fulkerson, also a native of New Jersey, was born and 
reared upon the bcautilul banks of the Raritan, on a farm about four 
miles from the cily of New Brunswick, which had been in the possession 
of the l'"ulkersons and occupied by that family for nearly two centuries. 
After their union his parents removed to the city of New York, where 
they were blessed with two children, an only son and a daughter. 
Richard, the son, was born on the 24tli of May, 1802, and is consequently 
at the time of writing this memoir in his fifty- first year. 

When he was about seven years old, his parents removed with him to 
Scoharie county, in the State of New York ; from whence, after a 
residence of two years, they clianged their home to the town of Ovid, in 
Seneca county, where they remained until he had attained his fourteenth 
year, when they removed to Chili, Moni-oe county, a town about ten miles 
from the city of Rochester. 

At the early age of eighteen, impressed with the truth of the injunc- 
tion, " Remend)er thy Creator in the days of thy youth,'' and feeling the 
necessity of looking beyond this world and its vanities for solace when 
" the days should come Avhen he could have no pleasure in them," he 
made a public profession of religion, and united himself with the Congre- 
gational church in Chili. At this time the greatest desire of his soul 
was to become a preacher of the gospel of Christ, and he became very 
solicitous to prepare himself for the ministry by the study of theology ; 
but his means not pei'mitting him to enter college for that purpose, and 
no way appearing to obtain the necessary qualification for that important 
office, he was reluctantly compelled to give up his cherished hope, and to 
turn bis attention to some pursuit by which to support his family, for he 
had united himself in marriage with Miss Charlotte McKee, daughter of 
Francis McKee, of Adams, Jeii'erson county, N. Y. But 

"There's a divinity wliich shapes our cnd?^" 

and in his case the operation of this providence became plainly visible. 
In the year 1828, his attention was .-igain directed to the call, and his 
mind strongly impressed with the feeling that it was his duty to preach 
the "everlasting gospel." Reflecting deeply upon this serious matter, he 
was induced to apply for advice to Josiah Bissell, Esq., an active and 
energetic Christian citizen of Rochester, and the Rev. Joel Parker, now of 
New York city. These gentlemen both agreed in urging him to follow 
the dictates of his conscience, and obey what appeared to them an 
evident vocation. In accordance with their advice, he relinquished his 
worldly pursuits, and commenced a preparation for the ministerial office 
under the instructions of the Rev. Joel Parker. Up to this time his 
attainments in knowledge had not been very great, but having had the 
benefit of an excellent common school education, he possessed a founda- 
tion upon which to build. 

After continuing his studies wiih the Rev. Mr. Parker until he had 
made considerable advances towards his contemplated profession, he 
entered a classical school in Rochester, of which the present Professor of 
Mathematics in Burlington College, Vermont, Farrand N. Benedict, Avas 
the principal. He remained under the instruction of this amiable man 
and successful teacher for two years, and to the aid extended by him, 



BICHAED DE FOREST, OF KEW YORK. 225 

and the deep and friendly interest exhibited he attributes the proficiency 
attained during that period, whilst liis remembrance of the kindness and 
patience displayed in unfolding to his mind the hidden lore of the 
ancients still elicits fi-om him the warmest expressions of gratitude. He 
then entered the Auburn Theological Seminary, of which at that time 
the Rev. James Richards was President. During the time he was occu- 
pied in these preparatory studies his family consisted of his wife, and 
Jane M., an only daughter. 

He received a license to preach the gospel from the Black River Asso- 
ciation, in the State of New York, on the 26th of January, 1832, and 
immediately entered upon his duties, preaching his first sermon on the 
following Sabbath in Adamsville, Jeflerson county. Returning to the 
seminary at Auburn, he remained there until April following, when he 
was ordained to the work of the gospel ministry by the above named 
Association on the 5th of April of the same year. He then entered fully 
upon his ministerial labors in western New York as pastor of different 
churches in that section until the year 1840, when he was led by the 
providence of God to commence laboring as an evangelist. In thus 
approaching the position of the earlier apostles he followed their example, 
and wherever two or three could be collected together he extended to 
them the free gifts of the gospel. In this capacity he labored for seven 
years, and his efforts were blessed by the great Head of the church in 
the hopeful conversion of many in every regular series of meetings at 
which he officiated during this period. Four of the seven years occupied 
by his evangelical labors were spent in the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illi- 
nois, and Wisconsin. In the course of his apostolic dispensation he felt it 
his duty to travel extensively. 

" The world was all before him, and Providence his guide." And in 
fulfilling the divine behest to preach the gospel to every creature, he 
visited the British possessions in Canada, and besides the States above 
mentioned, proclaimed the solemn and cheering truths of Christianity 
throughout Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, 'Massachusetts, Connecti- 
cut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Michigan, Kentucky, Mis- 
souri, and Iowa. In Indiana he organized two churches. During his 
ministry he has preached nearly four thousand sermons, and in the course 
of one year he delivered four hundred and twenty-six, averaging over one 
sermon for each day. 

On his return from the field of his labors in the Western States, he 
purchased a lot in the city of Rochester, and erected thereon a building 
containing one room for the purpose of preaching on the Sabbath. It was 
in a part of the city inhabited by the poor and destitute, to whom the 
Word had seldom been preached, and for whom a place of worship was 
much required. This was done before he had preached a single sermon 
in the neighborhood. When the edifice was completed, and the room 
prepared, he went through that section of the city, from door to door, 
visiting every cabin and hovel, to inform the inhabitants that there would 
be a school commenced on the following Sabbath, in the forenoon, and 
preaching in the afternoon and evening. The Sabbath-school opened 
with forty scholars, and in the afternoon and evening the people crowded 
the room. He .preached his first sermon in this room on the 12th of 
December, 1847, and continued to preach on every succeeding Sabbath 

VOL. IV. 15 



226 SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERICANS. 

until the latter part of February following, when indications of a revival 
becoming apparent, and upon one Sabbath in particular perceiving that 
his words had made a dee]^ impression on his hearers, he gave notice 
that he would preach every evening in that week ; accordingly he com- 
menced these evening exercises, and continued them regularly for four 
successive weeks. Aid was given him from above, and the Head of the 
church signally blessed his endeavors in the hopeful conversion of a 
goodly Dumber of those who had listened to his preaching of the Word. 
As the result of this manifestation of divine grace, a church was organ- 
ized on the 26th of March, 1848, consisting, at first, of twenty-two mem- 
bers, under the name of " St. Paul Street Congregational Church." In 
the month of May following, Mr. De Forest commenced building a house 
in which this newly formed congregation might worship ; this was to be 
a building of brick, seventy-five feet long and forty-two feet wide. 
Whilst erecting this church, besides fulfilling his duties as pastor of the 
congregation for whom it was intended, he had also to exercise the func- 
tions of trustee, and assume the responsibilities of a building committee. 
He furnished all the materials, superintended the workmen, circulated 
subscription lists, collected the funds required for the work, paid the 
laborers, and amid these various employments, had to find time to pre- 
pare the sermons which he delivered every Sabbath to his infant congre- 
gation. He also made a purchase of a lot of ground adjoining the 
church, which he. presented to the societ}^ as the site for a parsonage. 
This place of worship was at length completed, and the congregation — 
which may justly be called his, having had its origin through his minis- 
trations in that little room — have now acquired a suitable temple in which 
to offer up their sacrifice. 

"But in the midst of his useful and laudable exertions he was called 
upon to weep the consequence of 

" Man's disobedience and the fall ;" 

for death entered his household and tore from his embrace the wife of 
his bosom, who had been his loved consort for twenty-seven years. This 
was a heavy stroke, and he keenly felt the blow, but his confidence in 
the benignity of the Supreme Ruler of human affairs, in all his dispensa- 
tions, brought with it the consoling power of resignation, enabling him to 
check the rising sorrow, and exclaim submissively, " Thy will be done." 
Notwithstanding his great bereavement, he did not allow his own mis- 
fortunes to interfere with the great objects he had in view ; he still con- 
tinued to devote himself to the building up of his church, and brought, 
as we have seen, the little flock he had gathered and increased into a 
commodious edifice. 

His second wife was a daughter of Joseph Dart, Esq., of Middle Had- 
dam, Connecticut ; a lady of devoted piety and amiable disposition. 

But the ways of Providence are inscrutable. In the midst of his use- 
fulness Mr. De Forest was seized with a sudden deafness, which so far 
interfered with his professional duties as to compel him to retire from 
the pulpit, and although he is not now able, as formerly, to exhort in 
public, yet he is devoted to the cause of Christ, in which he still success- 
fully labors with all the powers he possesses, and which he considers the 
only object in this world worth living for. 



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